Amritsar Massacre: SAS Role To Be Investigated

David Cameron has ordered an urgent inquiry into apparent SAS involvement in a deadly raid on a Sikh temple in India that left more than 1,000 dead.

According to secret documents from 1984 an SAS officer helped the country's Government to come up with a plan to remove Sikh insurgents from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

The papers, which were recently released under the 30-year rule, also indicate that then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher knew the SAS was advising the Indian government.

The Indian army Blue Star operation ended in bloodshed in June 1984 with hundreds killed.

A Government spokesman said the papers raised "legitimate concerns". Mr Cameron has asked Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood to look at the events of 1984 and whether the documents should have been declassified.

Sikhs at the Golden Temple in 2013 - the 26th anniversary of the killings

British involvement in the Golden Temple operation is detailed in a letter, dated February 23, 1984, from Brian Fall, private secretary to then-foreign secretary Geoffrey Howe, to Hugh Taylor, his counterpart under home secretary Leon Brittan.

The letter said: "The Indian authorities recently sought British advice over a plan to remove Sikh extremists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The Foreign Secretary decided to respond favourably to the Indian request and, with the Prime Minister's agreement, an SAD (sic) officer has visited India and drawn up a plan which has been approved by Mrs Gandhi. The Foreign Secretary believes that the Indian Government may put the plan into operation shortly."

Indira Gandhi was assassinated in October 1984

It continued: "An operation by the Indian authorities at the Golden Temple could, in the first instance, exacerbate the communal violence in the Punjab.

"It might also, therefore, increase tension in the Indian community here, particularly if knowledge of the SAS involvement were to become public. We have impressed upon the Indians the need for security; and knowledge of the SAS officer's visit and of his plan has been tightly held both in India and in London. The Foreign Secretary would be grateful if the contents of this letter could be strictly limited to those who need to consider the possible domestic implications."

There is nothing to suggest whether the SAS officer's plans were used by the Indian army.

The massacre at Amritsar led to the revenge assassination of Indira Gandhi in October of the same year.

Sikh extremist groups continue to seek retribution for the massacre and last month four people were jailed for slashing the throat of a 78-year-old Lieutenant General during a visit to London.

Lt Gen Kuldeep Singh Brar, who was involved in the Golden Temple operation, survived the attack, as he has a number of assassination attempts.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "The Cabinet Secretary has been asked by the Prime Minister to look into what may have happened in 1984 with regard to papers that have been recently released.

"I think the important thing is to establish all the facts as quickly as possible, that work is under way, but in terms of timetable it is important it's done as quickly as possible.

"The reason behind it is that issues have been raised about decisions to release papers and also to consider whether there are... about the facts that are contained within the papers, so there are two aspects to it."

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Egypt: Voting Begins On New Constitution

Voting on Egypt's new constitution is under way, the first ballot since the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi last year.

A yes vote is expected and the result could encourage a bid for the presidency by the head of the army, General Abdel Fattah al Sisi.

Tensions in the country are high as people go to the polls. Thousands of soldiers have been deployed to guard polling stations.

Hospital officials quoted by the AFP news agency said a man was killed in clashes between Islamists and civilian opponents in the central province of Beni Sweif.

A bomb exploded outside a court in Cairo less than two hours before polling stations opened. A police general cited by AFP said it caused little damage and no injuries.

Gen Sisi forced Mr Morsi, Egypt's first freely-elected leader, from office in July following mass protests involving millions of people.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of the Coptic Church, after casting his vote

Islamist opponents view Gen Sisi as the man who caused violence and bloodshed unprecedented in the nation's modern history. At least 1,000 people, mostly Islamists, have been killed in clashes, with thousands imprisoned.

Supporters of Mr Morsi have called for a boycott of the poll, which is set to last for two days. They have been on the end of a brutal crackdown since the coup. 

Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement was declared a terrorist organisation in December. He is currently on trial over the deaths of protesters when he was in power and his escape from prison during the 2011 uprising that got rid of former president Hosni Mubarak.

Backers of the interim government argue the referendum is the first of several votes which will restore elected rule by the end of the year.

In a speech on Sunday, Interim President Adly Mansour urged Egyptians to cast their ballots. He said: "I call on you to live up to the responsibility you owe to your nation and to ensure a better future for this country to go to your polling station and vote."

The capital Cairo has been filled with banners urging Egyptians to vote yes, with many featuring military motifs such as a general's hat, a reference to Gen Sisi.

The aftermath of a bomb which exploded in Cairo on polling day

Rights lawyer Ragia Omran told AFP at least seven activists have been detained in the last week for distributing posters or leaflets critical of the new constitution. Most were released after a few days.

The new draft of the constitution has removed a lot of the Islamist-inspired wording of Mr Morsi's constitution. This was suspended when he was removed from power.

Supporters claim it expands women's rights and freedom of speech.

The powers of the military have been boosted. If passed, the army would have the right to appoint the defence minister for the next eight years and prosecute civilians for attacks on the armed forces.

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Bull Elephant Rampage: Briton's Car Trampled

A raging bull elephant has been filmed overturning a car in which a British teacher was travelling through South Africa's Kruger National Park.

Sarah Brooks, from Lincolnshire, was on safari with her partner, slowly following the animal down a road.

The incident was filmed by tourists in the car behind who see the elephant stop walking and turn towards the car.

It then approaches the car from the side and rolls it over and over, leaving it crushed, with the couple inside. 

The tourists in the car behind who did the filming are clearly shocked and distressed and heard to say: "Stop the car ... reverse, reverse, they're going to die."

They urge their own driver to reverse and get out of the angry elephant's way.

The elephant was subsequently killed, the park's general manager said, because its behaviour was totally inexplicable.

The couple were taken to hospital and later discharged.

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China: High-Speed Rail Network To Be Doubled

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent, in Beijing

China has announced it will spend £60bn this year in an effort to almost double the size of its high-speed rail network.

The investment forms part of a project which represents the largest and fastest rail expansion programme in the world.

Since 2008, and in the time Britain has taken only to debate the merits of one line - HS2 - which would be just over 100 miles long, China has built 6,000 miles of track, much of it elevated, and invested in 1,000 high-speed trains.

The network is currently almost double the combined length of Europe and Japan's railway networks.

The programme, the government says, forms a key part of the country's drive to modernise, urbanise and pull the Chinese people out of poverty.

Sky News took a ride on the 10am from Shanghai to Beijing. Bang on time, the shiny new bullet train pulled out of the city's Hongqiao station.

The train, 16 carriages long, has three classes: standard, first and business, which resembles the interior of an aeroplane.

China has built 6,000 miles of track since 2008

Sitting in a fully reclining airline-style seat is businessman Paul Zhou.

He said: "Our country is building an entire high-speed rail system and it has made our travel easier.

"It has shortened the journey between cities. It helps a lot on our work and life.

"On the airlines, there are always delays. They are very unreliable.

"I used to travel by plane, but now I almost always use our high-speed trains to go everywhere. They are comfortable, environmentally friendly, and always on time."

Out of the window the Chinese countryside is a blur as the train reaches its cruising speed of 190mph.

China now boasts the world's fastest conventional train. The CRH380A, manufactured by the Qingdao Sifang Company, has a top speed of 237mph, but in test runs it reached 302mph.

The trains run on a network of new lines, many of which are elevated. Together they knit together more than 100 cities across the country.

The country has the world's fastest train with a top speed of 237mph

Each of the cities has a vast new station. Most look more like airport terminals and they are packed - proof that this railway revolution has got China moving.

Another passenger, Zhao Changhua, is an office worker from the city of Jinan. She has just started commuting to Shanghai for work - a distance of 535 miles, but a journey time of just four hours.

She told Sky News: "It's very comfortable. It's convenient and fast. I'm very proud of it.

"It's the result of the fast development of our country's technology. It has given great benefits to our lives.

"This is my second time on a high-speed train, I think it's much easier than taking a plane.

"Airports are far away from the city centre while train stations are closer. So I choose high-speed trains."

The journey from Shanghai, west, then north, to Beijing is 800 miles - the length of the UK. It is completed in four hours, 48 minutes.

In second class, it costs the equivalent of £55, in first it is just under £100 and in business it costs £175.

Outside we see glimpses of rural China carved up by the new lines, but we also spot new cities springing up. It is evidence that the new rail network is stimulating the local economy at every stop.

Designer Roland Boal says the China network is a huge opportunity

Of all the passengers we spoke to, none had a bad word about the service. Most hoped that China could help the UK with its high-speed train development.

Mr Zhou said: "I hope the British government will use Chinese technology, let China help you to build your high-speed railway."

What none of the passengers realise is that the train they are on is actually designed, in part, with the help of a UK firm.

Priestmangoode is a design consultancy based in the UK but with a growing footprint in China. The company has combined the UK's flair for quality design with China's willingness to pay for it.

Roland Boal, head of Priestmangoode's China division, explained that China's "can do" attitude and seemingly bottomless pockets are a huge opportunity.

He told Sky News: "There is a hunger for new and exciting things. China is moving really fast and moving forward.

"There is a certain sense of excitement among people here and I think they want products that reflect that, whether it's a train or a plane.

"If it's a high-speed train, then make it look really fast. Not pared back; make it look fast.

"Western companies need to pay a lot more attention to what's happening here.

The country's high speed network runs on elevated lines

"I get very upset when I hear things like 'of course it broke, it was made in China' or 'I don't buy that company's products because they're made in China'. I think there is such an out-of-date attitude towards the obvious capability of manufacturing in China."

This railway revolution is not without significant controversy, though.

In 2011, two high-speed trains collided. Forty people were killed and 172 others injured.

Had the trains been travelling at full speed, the number of dead would have been significantly higher.

A signalling failure was blamed; the whole project was questioned and almost cancelled.

A further controversy stems from the fact that the technology behind the network is not Chinese.

In the early stages of the project, China bought high-speed train sets and technology from Canada's Bombardier, Japan's Kawasaki, Germany's Siemens and France's Alstom.

Chinese engineers then combined these technologies and produced their own trains.

Corruption has also plagued the project. In July last year, the country's railways minister, Liu Zhijun, was jailed for corruption, bribery and abuse of power. His demise brought the financial cost into focus.

At the last count, the existing project had cost £24bn through Chinese government loans, according to figures published in the Chinese state media.

The government hopes to recoup some of those costs by selling its success abroad.

China is in talks with countries including Romania, Georgia, Thailand, Burma and several in South America.

There is also a desire to help the US and the UK with their own projects.

The Chinese government, which runs the network through its Ministry of Transportation, declined our request for an interview for this report and refused Sky News all official access to their trains and stations. No reason was given.

The report was compiled without their agreement.

However, speaking to the Chinese media, and addressing the safety concerns, Deng Xiaojun, deputy chief engineer of Qingdao Sifang, one of the state-owned locomotive manufacturers, said that the trains are designed according to international standards and in some areas even stricter.

He told China's Xinhua news agency: "We have a rounded mechanism to ensure the train's safety operation."

Back on the train, and on time - almost to the second - the 10am from Shanghai pulls into Beijing South station. 

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Video Shows Suspect Shot In Hostage Situation

A new video has emerged showing a dramatic confrontation between Denver police and a suspect exiting a convenience store using a woman as a human shield.

The suspect, wearing a hooded sweater, falls to the ground after a police officer shoots him.

As the hostage runs, police surround the man.

Police surround the suspect

Local reports say the man was taken to hospital and was in a critical condition on Monday afternoon.

The Denver police said in a tweet: "Suspect shot in barricade, in critical condition. Investigation is ongoing, expect delays in area."

The suspect has not been identified.

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Australia Heatwave Sparks Bushfire Danger

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

A major heatwave is heading towards southern Australia with authorities warning the region could face some of the worst fire danger since a 2009 inferno which killed 173 people.

Temperatures are set to reach as high as 45C (113F) this week, with forecasters describing the situation as "severe to extreme heatwave conditions".

The last time such a heatwave hit the state of Victoria in 2009 the so-called Black Saturday firestorm flattened entire villages and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

Acting state premier Peter Ryan said: "These next four days promise to be amongst the most significant that we have faced in Victoria since Black Saturday."

Tens of thousands of firefighters were on standby, and 1,290 brigades were in a "state of high preparedness", he added, with the peak danger day expected on Friday when very strong winds are forecast.

"We are alive to the fact that we face these challenges over the course of these coming four days, including today. But on the other hand we are well prepared, we are ready to go," Mr Ryan said.

Victoria was hit by the Black Saturday firestorm in 2009

Bushfires on the west coast of Australia have already destroyed more than 50 houses, and one person died while defending his home from the flames.

It is thought the major blaze could have been started by a problem with a power line.

Hospitals and emergency authorities are on standby for an influx of heat-related call-outs, with Ambulance Victoria urging people with non-threatening medical conditions to seek alternative treatment.

The service has already seen a 10% jump in the number of call outs expected at this time of year.

Operations manager Paul Holman said: "We have recalled all available staff, every available vehicle will be on the road."

The country faces its worst danger since fires killed 173 four years ago

The extreme temperatures could even force tennis matches to be cancelled at the Australian Open, which is currently under way in Melbourne.

Wildfires and hot weather are common in Australia's December-February summer months, but the current event is unusual because it is occurring in what is supposed to be a neutral period in the El Nino pattern bringing average conditions.

El Nino, a phenomenon characterised by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, is generally associated with hotter, drier conditions in Australia.

Last year in Australia was officially the hottest year on record with numerous temperatures being broken.

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Hollande: Like The Others But Without Charisma

The whole thing is very French - the Actress and Le President. What's more, it is the one thing the French refuse to get angry about.

They'll bring Paris to a standstill over proposed changes to taxi laws - as happened on Monday - but it would be positively English to take issue with a two-timing head of state.

"It's private," is the most common response from Parisiennes asked about their President's alleged affair. The only question they seem to have is whether French taxpayers should be funding the lifestyle of the First Lady, Valerie Trierweiler, if she is no longer the President's girlfriend.

Francois Hollande must clarify, almost as if it were a cabinet decision, whether the First Lady will be reshuffled out, mid-term.

There is one other issue, however, which plays into Mr Hollande's general character. "He is as a man who can't commit," one Parisienne woman commented. "It's not good to be indecisive, if you are a President."

The calm before the storm: Mr Hollande with Valerie Trierweiler last week

Mr Hollande never married his first long-term girlfriend, the politician Segolene Royal - herself a former presidential runner - with whom he had four children.

Despite moving Valerie Trierweiler into the Elysee palace there's been no suggestion of marriage since they got together in 2007.

While he spent Christmas with the First Lady and her family, under the cover of a moped helmet he was also allegedly sneaking one street away from the Elysee Palace to the appropriately named Rue du Cirque (Circus Road) for flings with French actress Julie Gayet.

"If he can't decide on his girlfriend, how can he make a decision on the economy?" ask his opponents. "And if the First Lady can't trust him can we?"

Up until now he has managed to convey a straight-laced image; a man who may have been failing to re-energise the French economy but his one endearing quality was his workmanlike approach to the job.

How the Italian newspapers covered the Hollande saga

So if it turns out he's just like all the others, but without the charisma, what's left to like?

Political analyst Dominique Moisi said: "The fact is that this is the most unpopular president in the history of the Fifth Republic. He wanted to impress the French with the fact that he was a normal man, that he was a man of dignity, simplicity and moral rigour. And suddenly the French are discovering that he is like others, but in a less glorious manner, and really a more ridiculous manner.

"A president who has to hide under a helmet, driving with a bodyguard on a scooter to see his alleged mistress."

A sex scandal is the last thing France's president needs.

It has opened him to ridicule as well as dislike, and from now on he will forever be portrayed by cartoonists as a man wearing a helmet - with all the negative connotations that evokes.

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CAR Violence: Harrowing Stories From Conflict

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent

The most senior Muslim leader in the Central African Republic is to travel to Britain in a few days' time to appeal for help from Prime Minister David Cameron as religious attacks raged on in the poverty-stricken country.

The attacks have continued unabated despite last Friday's sudden resignation of the country's first Muslim president, Michel Djotodia.

Sky News accompanied Imam Oumar Kobine Layama as he visited Muslim neighbourhoods in the capital Bangui surrounded by armed guards, and saw hundreds of families cowering in fear in deserted schools and mosques.

"We are forgotten by the French troops," one young man shouted at us.

Another told us: "This is genocide, a big genocide.

"We have Christians living with us and we protect the Christians, but if a Muslim walks downtown then he will be killed."

Tears fell down the cheeks of a 50-year-old Muslim woman as she told us how she witnessed her husband and her son being slaughtered by the Christian anti-balaka militia.

These Christian men were filmed cutting pages of what looked like the Koran

Since the attack a month ago, she has been sheltering  with her two younger sons in the courtyard of a school along with about 40 other families.

They are desperate conditions and the fear is palpable.

Adam Ahamat shook violently as he told us how he witnessed Christian gangs burning his wife and two babies alive.

He said: "They locked the door of our home and then torched it.

"I've lost my life, I don't know what to do."

Mr Ahamat is still recovering from a machete attack on him as he tried to save his family.

He has slash wounds, but it is the emotional scars which will take a lot longer to heal.

But the Christians are suffering too.

More than a million Central Africans - both Muslims and Christians - are now living crowded in multiple camps and separated largely on religious lines, surviving in deplorable conditions where disease is now thriving.

Adam Ahamat said his wife and two babies were burned alive

A Christian woman said: "These are terrible conditions. We're abandoned here and we're still being threatened by the Muslim Seleka bandits."

We see several mosques which have been destroyed in the orgy of violence and vandalism which led up to the resignation of Mr Djotodia.

A group of Christian youths carrying machetes tell us proudly they took part in the destruction of the Muslim holy place we are looking at.

There are loose pages of what looks like the Koran still laying on the ground, and the youths pick them up and slice them with their machetes.

"It's the end of Muslims in this country," a young man said.

"Can you live in peace again?" I ask one of the machete-wielding men.

"Yes," he says. "We have lived side-by-side for decades but we need some help from  outside, I don't see anyone in the Central African Republic can sort it on their own."

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Giant Squid Caught By Japanese Fishermen

A group of Japanese fishermen have landed a giant squid while on the hunt for a completely different catch.

Shigenori Goto and his crew were hoping for a catch of yellowtail fish but instead the mammoth squid - weighing 163kg (360lbs) - came into view in the freezing seas of northern Japan.

"We were about 30 or 40 minutes into our day when we saw this huge reddish-brown thing come swimming up, rising from the depths," the 44-year-old revealed in a telephone interview.

The squid was first spotted under the surface. Pic: Shigenori Goto

"I'd never seen anything like it before. I was surprised, there's no other word for it. And then it was complete chaos on the boat - we all just started shouting 'giant squid, giant squid'," he added.

The squid, a male, died shortly after being pulled to the surface last Wednesday off the coast of Sado island in Niigata Prefecture.

Experts said the squid, which lost its super-long tentacles during the capture, was likely to have been around 8 metres (26 feet) in total, since the tentacles usually equal the rest of the body in length.

A man poses alongside the squid. Pic: Niigata Prefecture

The largest ever caught measured some 18 metres (60 feet) from the top of its head to tentacle tip.

The fisherman said he wished the squid had looked better when it was caught.

"I wish we'd been able to make the squid more presentable, but there are no fishing techniques for catching giant squid and I had no idea it was going to become such a big deal. Otherwise I'd have tried to treat it a bit more gently," he said.

Squid, both raw and cooked, is a popular food in Japan but Mr Goto said the thought of eating the catch never crossed his mind.

"It was a seriously big squid. Any smaller and we might have thought about eating it, but there was this really bad ammonia smell. I don't think it would have made for good food."

The squid was "too big for food". Pic: Niigata Prefecture

Giant squid, mysterious creatures thought to have inspired the myth of the monstrous "kraken", make occasional appearances near the Japanese archipelago.

After its capture, the squid was driven away away for tests at a nearby research institute.

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Francois Hollande Faces Media Over Affair Claims

Hollande: Like The Others But Without Charisma

Updated: 12:20pm UK, Tuesday 14 January 2014

By Jason Farrell, Sky News Correspondent, in Paris

The whole thing is very French - the Actress and Le President. What's more, it is the one thing the French refuse to get angry about.

They'll bring Paris to a standstill over proposed changes to taxi laws - as happened on Monday - but it would be positively English to take issue with a two-timing head of state.

"It's private," is the most common response from Parisiennes asked about their President's alleged affair. The only question they seem to have is whether French taxpayers should be funding the lifestyle of the First Lady, Valerie Trierweiler, if she is no longer the President's girlfriend.

Francois Hollande must clarify, almost as if it were a cabinet decision, whether the First Lady will be reshuffled out, mid-term.

There is one other issue, however, which plays into Mr Hollande's general character. "He is as a man who can't commit," one Parisienne woman commented. "It's not good to be indecisive, if you are a President."

Mr Hollande never married his first long-term girlfriend, the politician Segolene Royal - herself a former presidential runner - with whom he had four children.

Despite moving Valerie Trierweiler into the Elysee palace there's been no suggestion of marriage since they got together in 2007.

While he spent Christmas with the First Lady and her family, under the cover of a moped helmet he was also allegedly sneaking one street away from the Elysee Palace to the appropriately named Rue du Cirque (Circus Road) for flings with French actress Julie Gayet.

"If he can't decide on his girlfriend, how can he make a decision on the economy?" ask his opponents. "And if the First Lady can't trust him can we?"

Up until now he has managed to convey a straight-laced image; a man who may have been failing to re-energise the French economy but his one endearing quality was his workmanlike approach to the job.

So if it turns out he's just like all the others, but without the charisma, what's left to like?

Political analyst Dominique Moisi said: "The fact is that this is the most unpopular president in the history of the Fifth Republic. He wanted to impress the French with the fact that he was a normal man, that he was a man of dignity, simplicity and moral rigour. And suddenly the French are discovering that he is like others, but in a less glorious manner, and really a more ridiculous manner.

"A president who has to hide under a helmet, driving with a bodyguard on a scooter to see his alleged mistress."

A sex scandal is the last thing France's president needs.

It has opened him to ridicule as well as dislike, and from now on he will forever be portrayed by cartoonists as a man wearing a helmet - with all the negative connotations that evokes.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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