Snowden 'Flight Of Liberty' Campaign To Begin

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

Campaign group WikiLeaks has said Edward Snowden's "Flight of Liberty campaign" is about to begin.

In a cryptic message posted on its Twitter feed late on Tuesday, the group, which has been advising Snowden, said: "Tomorrow the first phase of Edward Snowden's 'Flight of Liberty' campaign will be launched. Follow for further details."

A WikiLeaks' spokesperson told Sky News he was unable to comment further.

WikiLeaks legal researcher Sarah Harrison, a British citizen, is understood to be with Snowden and the organisation has previously issued statements on his behalf.

Russian officials have said Snowden is still in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, where he is entering his third week in hiding after arriving from Hong Kong on June 23.

The 30-year-old former CIA and NSA (National Security Agency) contractor is wanted on espionage charges in the US after revealing details of mass surveillance programmes.

From Moscow he has applied to 26 countries for political asylum, but so far only Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have indicated they would be prepared to grant it.

Overnight, Venezuela's president Nicholas Maduro repeated his offer of "humanitarian asylum" to Snowden, telling military officials his country was not afraid of the US.

He said: "We have decided, for the dignity, and as a clear message to imperialism, that we're not afraid, that the children of Bolivar do not fear the empire (United States)."

Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro has offered asylum to Snowden

"We have decided to grant political asylum to the young man Edward Snowden, in the name of a Venezuela of dignity, of an independent Venezuela."

But his foreign minister later said that Snowden had not confirmed his intention to come to Venezuela and that he would have to reach Venezuelan territory to seek asylum.

Precisely how he will be able to do so is far from clear - Snowden's US passport has been revoked, and his flight could be denied access to US airspace, or that of its European allies, if he is suspected of being on board.

Last week Bolivia said its president's plane was refused access to French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian airspace because of a report that it was carrying Snowden.

There are no direct flights from Moscow to Caracas, and all available commercial flights go through US or European airspace.

There is a possible route flying north from Moscow towards the Arctic Circle, then south over the Atlantic to South America, which would avoid all potentially hostile airspace, but this would require chartering a flight, at an estimated cost according to one analyst of around £130,000.

Conflicting statements continue to surround Snowden's travel plans.

On Tuesday a senior Russian official tweeted that Snowden had accepted Venezuela's offer of asylum, but within minutes his message had been deleted and he issued a hasty clarification.

Alexei Pushkov, who chairs the Russian parliament's international affairs committee, said his information was based on the evening news bulletin of a state TV station, which had been replaying an earlier clip of President Maduro.

WikiLeaks then posted a message confirming that Edward Snowden had not yet formally accepted asylum in Venezuela and that the states involved would make the announcement "if and when the appropriate time comes".

But both messages have also since disappeared. WikiLeaks' spokesperson declined to comment.

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Canada Train Explosion: Criminal Probe Starts

A criminal investigation has been launched after a train carrying crude oil came off the rails and exploded, killing 15 people.

The mangled remains of the train after the explosion in Lac-Megantic

The death toll rose as police gained access to the centre of the crash site in Lac-Megantic, near Quebec in Canada, for the first time.

Many of the dozens of people still missing are feared buried in the blackened remains of buildings destroyed by the blast.

The blast destroyed around 30 buildings in the small Canadian town

Inspector Michel Forget, of Quebec Provincial Police, said investigators had discovered "elements" that may point to criminal involvement.

They are examining whether a fire on the train a few hours before the disaster set off the deadly chain of events.

The train travelled downhill for nearly seven miles before derailing

The engine was shut down after the blaze - a standard procedure but one that might have disabled the brakes.

The train broke loose and hurtled down a hill for nearly seven miles before jumping the tracks at 63mph, causing at least five of the 73 cars to explode.

Axle gear was strewn across the town of Lac-Megantic

The blast destroyed around 30 buildings, including a popular nightspot that was packed with people.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper likened the scene to a "war zone" and said the country had witnessed an "unbelievable disaster".

At least five of the freight train's 73 wagons exploded

Local resident Gilles Fluet, who saw the train just before it derailed, said: "It was moving at a hellish speed.

"(There were) no lights, no signals, nothing at all. There was no warning. It was a black blob that came out of nowhere."

Barriers have been placed on rivers to contain the oil spill

Meanwhile, authorities battled to stop waves of crude oil from the disaster reaching the St Lawrence River, an important supply of water for the region.

Yves-Francois Blanchet, the environment and wildlife minister, said the chances of containing the spill were "very slim".

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Giant Python Breaks Into Oz Charity Shop

Australian police investigating a suspected break-in at a charity shop have discovered the culprit was actually a 5.7m (19ft) python.

Police called out to the store in the town of Ingham, in North Queensland, had been mystified by the chaotic crime scene they were confronted with, including a hole in the ceiling and a smelly pool of vomit-like liquid.

Officers initially thought a thief had fallen through the ceiling and then thrown up - until employees spotted the giant snake the next day.

The python was taken away from the shop by local snake catchers

Police Sergeant Don Auld  said: "We thought a person had fallen through the ceiling because the roof panel was cut in half.

"When they've hit the floor, they've vomited and then staggered and fallen over. That's what we thought anyway."

He now suspects the python, which weighs 17kg (37lbs), entered the St Vincent de Paul charity store, called Vinnies, through the roof, which was damaged in a cyclone two years ago.

The unusual break-in occurred at the Vinnies store in Ingham

The animal then plummeted through the ceiling, knocking over dishes, clothes and other items, before relieving itself on the floor. It somehow managed to hide from officials until staff spotted it lying alongside a wall the next day.

"Its head was the size of a small dog," Mr Auld added.

A local snake catcher was called in to capture the reptile, which has been relocated to nearby wetlands.

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Japan: Yakuza Crime Gang Launches Magazine

Japan's biggest yakuza-organised crime group has published a magazine for its members that includes a poetry page and senior gangsters' fishing diaries, according to reports.

The eight-page publication has been distributed among the Yamaguchi-gumi, a sprawling syndicate believed to have about 27,700 members, in an effort to strengthen unity in the group, the daily Sankei Shimbun reported.

The front page of the Yamaguchi-gumi Shinpo (newsletter) carries a first-person piece by the group's head, Kenichi Shinoda, instructing younger members in the values and disciplines they should observe, the Sankei said.

Shinoda writes that times have become hard for Japan's mafia and that they can no longer rely on their "brand" to generate profitability in their operations, the Mainichi Shimbun said.

Kenichi Shinoda, boss of the Yamaguchi-gumi gang

The magazine, which is not being made publicly available, has an entertainment section detailing fishing trips by top officials, along with satirical haiku  - the traditional Japanese form of poetry - and pieces on the board games Go and Shogi, the reports said.

"They may feel that it has become harder to carry on with their activities under anti-mafia ordinances that bar them from opening new bank accounts and signing real estate contracts," a police source was quoted by the Mainichi as saying.

The number of yakuza has fallen in recent years, standing at 63,200 in late 2012, down 7,100 from the previous year, according to the National Police Agency.

The Yamaguchi-gumi makes up more than 40% of the nation's organised criminals, but it lost 3,300 members in 2012, the agency said.

Like the Italian Mafia or Chinese triads, the yakuza engages in activities ranging from gambling, drugs and prostitution to loan sharking, protection rackets, white-collar crime and business conducted through "front" companies.

The gangs, which are not illegal, have historically been tolerated by the authorities, although there are periodic clampdowns on some of their less savoury activities.

The yakuza are heavily mythologised in Japan, with films, television dramas and fan magazines glamorising lives of stylised violence that are governed by a samurai code of honour.

One ritual in the group involves the severing of fingers of members who have broken the group's rules in some way.

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Hunger Strike: 30,000 US Inmates Join Protest

Almost 30,000 of California's 133,000 inmates are refusing meals in support of convicts being held in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison.

Prisoners announced the third extended hunger strike in two years to protest against conditions for more than 4,500 gang members, gang associates and serious offenders held in the security housing units.

The isolation units are at Pelican Bay near the Oregon border and at three other maximum security prisons around the state.

On Monday and Tuesday, inmates refused breakfast and lunch at two-thirds of the state's 33 prisons and at all four private prisons that hold California inmates in other states. It is not known how many prisoners skipped dinners.

One of the solitary confinement cells at Pelican Bay

The number of participants in the protest eclipses two hunger strikes two years ago.

Nearly 12,000 inmates missed at least some meals in October 2011, and nearly 7,000 declined meals in July 2011, though officials said most began eating again after several days.

Pelican Bay inmates said the protest began after talks with prison officials broke down last month over demands that the department end long-term solitary confinement that can last for decades.

Corrections department officials said it changed its policies last year to give gang associates a way out of the units.

California prisoners last went on a mass hunger strike in 2011

About half of the nearly 400 inmates considered so far have been or will be let out of solitary confinement, while another 115 are in a programme in which they can work their way out of the units.

A federal judge in April refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by 10 Pelican Bay prisoners alleging their living conditions in the isolation units are unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.

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Boston Bomb Suspect To Face Victims In Court

By Tom Parmenter, Sky Correspondent in Boston

Survivors and people who lost relatives in the Boston bombings are due to come face to face with the man accused of the deadly attacks.

Dzhokar Tsarnaev, 19, is scheduled to make his first public appearance in a Boston courtroom.

Bereaved family members and people who lost limbs in the blasts have vowed to attend the hearing.

One mother Liz Norden, whose sons Paul and JP both lost a leg in the attack, has said she wants to go into court to "face down evil".

The 19-year-old faces 30 charges that include killing four people and "using a weapon of mass destruction".

A total of 17 of the charges carry a possible sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty. 

Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell and Lingzi Lu were killed

Three people were killed when two bombs exploded close to the finish line of the Boston marathon on April 15.

Eight-year-old Martin Richard, Restaurant manager Krystle Campbell and university student Lingzi Lu were killed.

A further 260 people suffered injuries - many of them losing limbs.

Days after the bombings police officer Sean Collier was shot dead during an extraordinary manhunt that ended in the suburb of Watertown.

Tsarnaev was discovered hiding in a boat parked in a Watertown backyard

Large parts of the city of Boston were put on lockdown as armed police tried to arrest the suspects.

Tsarnaev's older brother Tamerlan was killed in a shoot-out with police.

The indictment states he wrote inside the boat where he hid from police for hours: "The US government is killing our innocent civilians" and "I can't stand to see such evil go unpunished".

Tsarnaev, whose family hail from Dagestan in southern Russia, had been studying in Boston before the attacks and has been held at a secure hospital in Massachusetts since his arrest.

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Egypt Orders Brotherhood Arrests Over Clashes

Egypt's public prosecutor has ordered the arrest of Muslim Brotherhood supreme guide Mohammed Badie and other top leaders of the movement for inciting violence that left dozens dead outside the headquarters of an elite army unit.

At least 51 people were killed in Monday's clashes outside the Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo where supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi were calling for him to be reinstated.

Other senior Brotherhood officials were also ordered to be held over the violence, including Mr Badie's deputy Mahmoud Ezzat and party leaders Essam El-Erian and Mohamed El-Beltagi, according to judicial sources.

Prosecutors said that 200 people had been charged altogether over their involvement in the deadly clashes. Mostly Morsi supporters, they will be held for 15 days pending investigation into accusations of murder, incitement to violence, carrying unlicensed weapons and disrupting public order and security.

Thousands of followers of the Brotherhood have been maintaining a vigil near a mosque in northeast Cairo demanding the reinstatement of Mr Morsi, toppled as president by the army last week.

His ousting, after mass protests calling for his resignation, has prompted widespread violence in the divided country. Monday was the deadliest day so far.

Interim PM Hazem el Beblawi is trying to put together a cabinet

A spokesman for the Brotherhood movement said the charges were an attempt to break-up their protests and that the leaders had not been detained.

Mr Morsi himself is said to be in a "safe place" and has not had any charges levelled against him.

"Morsi is in a safe place, for his safety and he is being treated with dignity," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

It came as the ousted president's Islamist group said it would reject any offers to join a new interim government.

Amid reports that the Muslim Brotherhood is to be offered positions in the transitional cabinet, a spokesman for the movement said: "We do not deal with putschists. We reject all that comes from this coup."

Egypt's new interim prime minister Hazem el Beblawi said he would start work on forming his new cabinet on Wednesday, first meeting liberal leaders Mohamed ElBaradei and Ziad Bahaa-Eldin.

The new leader said he accepted that it would be difficult to win the unanimous support of Egyptians for his new government.

Violent clashes have erupted between Morsi supporters and opponents

Mr Beblawi, a liberal economist and former finance minister, was appointed prime minister by interim president Adly Mansour on Tuesday. He also made Nobel peace laureate Mr ElBaradei interim vice president responsible for foreign affairs.

Mr Mansour has set a timetable to hold elections early next year as part of a new charter to try to halt the unrest.

However, the plan has since been shunned by the Muslim Brotherhood, while the National Salvation Front, the main liberal coalition that called for Mr Morsi's overthrow, has demanded amendments - stopping short of rejecting the decree outright. 

Tamarod, the movement that spearheaded the grassroots campaign against the former president, complained that it had not been consulted on the transition plan announced by Mr Mansour and would also make proposals for changes to the blueprint.

The decree, outlining the interim president's new powers, gives the country five months to amend the Islamist-drafted constitution suspended on Mr Morsi's ouster and ratify it in a referendum.

Parliamentary elections will then be held by early 2014 and Mr Mansour will announce a date for a presidential election once the new parliament has convened.

The continued standoff with Mr Morsi's loyalists, who demand the reinstatement of Egypt's first democratically elected leader, has exacerbated fears of further bloodshed after his overthrow.

In the worst incident on July 3, at least 51 people, most of them supporters of the ousted Islamist, died in clashes outside a military barracks in Cairo.

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China Floods: Up To 40 Buried In Landslide

Between 30 and 40 people have been buried by a landslide in China's Sichuan province, as heavy rains in the area also destroyed homes and bridges.

The landslide in Zhongxing on Wednesday morning was triggered by days of rain, the local fire brigade said on its verified website.

A Zhongxing official said that "so far we only know 11 families were buried and more than 200 residents have been evacuated", but that workers were still searching for others.

Much of China has been hit by heavy rainfall in recent days, including most of Sichuan, where homes have been destroyed and three bridges have collapsed since Monday.

Rescuers are searching for 12 people missing after a bridge in Jiangyou, Sichuan, collapsed on Tuesday, local officials said.

Six vehicles were confirmed to have plunged into the Panjiang River after the bridge collapsed, the Jiangyou government said.

But Lin Rui, who was driving a minivan across the bridge and swam to safety through a torrential river, believed the figure could be higher.

He said there were 15 to 18 vehicles on the structure at the time.

"There were several cars ahead of me," he told state broadcaster CCTV. "A bus or a coach, I can't remember clearly, was running ahead."

Twelve people are missing after the Jiangyou bridge collaspe

A man also died in Shifang in Sichuan on Tuesday after a three-storey building collapsed as a result of the floods, which have been described as the worst in the region in 50 years.

The building housed the offices of a local mine.

More than 480,000 people have been affected by the torrential rains, according to a government estimate on Wednesday.

The landslide also destroyed a high-profile memorial to a devastating 2008 earthquake in Sichuan.

In Beichuan, the flooding destroyed buildings and exhibits at the memorial for the earthquake that left 90,000 people dead or missing.

The quake left the Beichuan region unliveable, and the abandoned ruins were turned into a memorial and museum.

Landslides and flooding are common in China's mountainous areas, killing hundreds of people every year.

Deforestation has led to soil erosion and made some parts of China prone to mudslides after strong rains.

China's deadliest natural disaster in three decades struck in Sichuan in 2008, when an earthquake left more than 80,000 people dead. Shoddy building construction was blamed for the high number of deaths.

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Ireland Abortion: Protests Ahead Of Vote

Ireland is preparing to set in stone legislation which would confirm abortion is not illegal in cases where a woman's life is at risk.

Politicians will vote on the divisive legislation following a European court ruling that Ireland needlessly endangers the lives of pregnant women in life-threatening situations.

The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill would enshrine a woman's right to a termination if her life is at risk - including if she is suicidal.

Pro-choice campaigners hold a 24-hour protest in Dublin

Several members of the coalition Government are expected to rebel over the reforms but it is understood that passing the legislation is not in doubt.

Irish prime minister Enda Kenny said the vote could take place as late as midnight, but insisted he was willing to extend the debate further if necessary.

Protests by pro-life groups, hate mail, death threats and intimidation to politicians and campaigners have worsened already bitter disputes over the reforms in the predominantly Catholic country.

Savita Halappanavar died after she was refused an abortion in Ireland

On Tuesday night, Pro-life activists held a vigil and slept outside Leinster House where the vote will take place.

The abortion debate in Ireland has become heated following the death of Savita Halappanavar, an Indian woman who miscarried and died in an Irish hospital in 2012 after being denied an abortion.

She was 17 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to Galway University Hospital suffering from agonising pain and requesting an abortion.

Her husband, Praveen, said doctors refused to terminate the pregnancy after discovering there was a foetal heartbeat, saying his wife was told: "This is a Catholic country."

Previously, doctors acted under guidance from the Irish Medical Council and a Supreme Court ruling from 1992 which allowed abortion if there was a threat to the mother's life, including suicide.

But the 1992 ruling has yet to be officially preserved in legislation.

Parliament member Lucinda Creighton and husband Senator Paul Bradford

The case was taken by a 14-year-old rape victim who became pregnant and was refused permission to travel to have the pregnancy terminated.

Ireland has also been under pressure after a European Court of Human Rights ruling that a woman in remission with cancer was discriminated against because she was forced to travel overseas for a termination.

Pro-life protesters hold a vigil ahead of the vote

Choice campaigners have demanded action and claim Ireland only exports its problem with 4,000 women registering with an Irish address for an abortion in the UK every year.

The inclusion of the suicide clause has been the most contentious, with some claiming abortion in those circumstances could do more damage to a woman's mental health.

Following the vote, the bill will be considered by the Seanad - the upper house of parliament.

The Government expects the law to be enacted before the Irish parliament breaks for summer on July 18.

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San Francisco Crash: Pilot Warnings 'Ignored'

One of the pilots of Asiana Flight 214 that crashed in San Francisco shouted warnings that were ignored, according to South Korean media.

Sources in the country's transport ministry confirmed Bong Dong Won - who was in the cockpit jump seat - repeatedly yelled "sink rate" in the final minute before the crash, it was reported.

If the sink rate - the rate of decrease in altitude - was checked when Mr Bong raised the alarm, it may have prevented the plane from hitting the seawall as it landed at San Francisco Airport, reports said.

But the two pilots at the controls - Lee Kang Kuk and his instructor Lee Jung Min - apparently did not respond to Mr Bong's shouted warnings, the respected Joongang Daily newspaper said.

The crash killed two Chinese students and left more than 180 injured.

Among those injured were two flight attendants in the back of the plane who survived despite being thrown onto the runway as the plane crashed on Saturday.

The charred remains of the plane remain on the runway

US investigators previously said that just 1.5 seconds before the plane crashed, a member of the flight crew asked to abort the landing, though it was too late to take such action.

However, it is now being reported that Mr Bong started giving warnings 54 seconds before impact.

There was also a fourth pilot - the relief captain - on board, but he was not in the cockpit at the time of the crash. 

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has confirmed that Mr Bong had flown five to six times to San Francisco and previously worked for the Korean air force as a fighter pilot.

Lee Kang Kuk was around halfway through his training for the Boeing 777, but had led 29 flights to San Francisco on Boeing 747s in the past, according to the airline.

Wang Linija (left) and Ye Mengyuan died in the crash

However, his trainer had not flown in that role before, the NTSB said.

At 41, Mr Bong is much younger than the other two pilots in the cockpit.

A Korean Airlines Boeing 747 crashed in Guam in 1997 - a crash that investigators blamed in part on an authoritarian cockpit culture that made newer pilots reluctant to challenge captains.

But since then, the industry has adopted broad training and requirements that mean pilots who are not at the controls should feel free to voice any safety concerns.

Sky News producer Jen Kwon, a South Korean based in Beijing, said: "Even though Bong Dong Won is younger than the other two pilots in the cockpit I do not believe that age or rank would be a reason why people would not respond to a warning.

"Perhaps conservative Korean traditional culture might be a bar to communication in many aspects of Korean life, it is hard to imagine the same happening in a cockpit of a civil airliner after seeing what had happened to their competing airline company, Korean Airlines."

Mr Yoon (centre) has defended the four pilots

South Korean-based Asiana has defended the four pilots as "very competent".

The airline's chief executive, Yoon Young-Doo, lashed out at reports that pilot inexperience may have been to blame for the fatal crash, saying such speculation was "intolerable".

The aircraft went skidding out of control after clipping the seawall, breaking up and bursting into flames when one of its engines caught fire.

The NTSB said the plane was flying far too slowly before the landing. Its investigation is expected to continue for months and it has warned against speculating about the cause of the crash.

But the Air Line Pilots Association International (Alpa) has already criticised the information provided by the NTSB.

"The NTSB's release of incomplete, out-of-context information has fuelled rampant speculation about the cause of the accident," Alpa said.

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