Kobani 'About To Fall' To Islamic State

Turkish President Recep Erdogan says Syrian border town Kobani is 'about to fall' to Islamic State militants and that a ground operation is needed to defeat the group.

Fresh airstrikes targeted fighters who have been bombarding the town with machine-gun fire and shells on Tuesday.

Plumes of smoke billowed into the air over Kobani after US, Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates jets launched five attacks against targets south of the city.

In a statement, US Central Command said four armed vehicles, anti-aircraft artillery, a tank and a militant unit were hit during the strikes.

Kobani is just over a mile from Turkey

Airstrikes also took place near Rabiyah, west of al Hasakah and near Deir Ezzor, where a production facility for homemade bombs was destroyed.

Mr Erdogan, in a televised speech in the city of Gaziantep, said airstrikes were not enough to save Kobani.

Video: New Strikes Target IS At Border

He said: "The terror will not be over... unless we co-operate for a ground operation.

"I am telling the West - dropping bombs from the air will not provide a solution. Months have passed but no results have been achieved. Kobani is about to fall."

"We are following the attacks on Kobani and other towns where our Kurdish brothers live with great concern. Turkey is on guard and well-equipped for any threats directed against itself."

IS fighters raised their black flag over two buildings in the key border town after a day of heavy fighting on Monday.

The militants were reported to have moved into the southwest of Kobani overnight, taking several buildings to gain attacking positions on two sides of the town.

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1. Gallery: IS Attacks Town Near Turkish Border

   Turkish army tanks take up position on the Turkish-Syrian border near the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa Province

2. Kurdish fighters vowed not to abandon their increasingly desperate efforts to defend the Syrian border town of Kobani from Islamic State militants pressing in from three sides and pounding them with heavy artillery

3. Despite the heavy fighting, which has seen mortars rain down on residential areas in Kobani and stray fire hit Turkish territory, a Reuters reporter saw around 30 people cross over from Turkey, apparently to help with defence of the town

4. An IS fighter walks near a black flag belonging to the Islamic State near Kobani

14. Kurdish refugees from Kobani sit in front of their tents in a camp in the southeastern town of Suruc

15. Islamic State is trying to seize Kobani, which is predominantly Kurdish, and has ramped up its offensive in recent days despite being targeted by US-led coalition airstrikes aimed at halting its progress

16. Turkish Kurds look at Kobani as they stand on top of a house near Mursitpinar border crossing. Continue through for more pictures

Fierce fighting raged in the area over the weekend as local Kurdish fighters struggled to hold out against rocket and mortar attacks - despite support from another three US strikes.

But Jenan Moussa, a reporter just 500m over the border in Turkey, told Sky News that the fighting was much quieter compared with Monday when bullets were "flying over our heads".

"I can still hear shooting and shelling but nothing compared to yesterday," she said.

"I heard and I saw three airstrikes. One on the western side and two on the eastern."

Turkey has put a line of tanks close to the border in a show of force should IS cross the line into its territory.

Video: Firework Attacks In Istanbul Unrest

At least 400 people - fighters from both sides, and civilians - have been killed during three weeks of fighting around the town, according to British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It said it had documented the deaths from sources on the ground but added the real figure could be double.

Sky News Foreign Affairs Editor Sam Kiley said the Kurds were angry that they had not been getting enough air support.

"If (Kobani) falls then symbolically and strategically it will send a message to the Kurds that the coalition is not going to come to their aid."

IS began its advance on Kobani on 16 September, prompting weeks of street battles and forcing around 160,000 people to flee into Turkey.

Video: Turkey Turns Water Cannon On Kurds

The group - who last week murdered British hostage Alan Henning - controls large areas of Syria and Iraq and wants more territory for its 'caliphate'.

Violent clashes were reported overnight in Istanbul and other Turkish cities as hundreds of demonstrators angered at the IS advance clashed with police.

Protesters set up barricades, threw stones, fireworks and petrol bombs at police in some Istanbul neighbourhoods, said the country's Dogan news agency.

Police also reportedly used tear gas and water cannon on protesters in the Kurdish-dominated cities of Diyarbakir, Batman, Van, Sirnak, Sanliurfa and Hakkari.

Tensions in Turkey - a member of the NATO alliance - are rising after its parliament last week authorised military action if necessary.

Video: Desperate Help Needed In Kobani

The order allows incursions into Syria and Iraq to counter the threat "from all terrorist groups" and also means NATO powers could use the country as a base for airstrikes.

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Ebola Outbreak: 56 Being Monitored In Spain

A Madrid nurse who became the first person to contract ebola outside of Africa is being treated with antibodies from survivors of the illness, hospital officials have revealed.

Four people, also including her husband, have been placed in quarantine at the hospital over fears they may also have the deadly virus.

The nurse was part of a medical team at the city's La Paz-Carlos III hospital that treated two Spanish missionaries who died shortly after returning from Africa with the disease.

A second nurse who also helped treat an infected priest is among the four being monitored by health workers, as is a man who arrived on a flight from Nigeria displaying symptoms.

Spain's health authorities said they had been in touch with a total of 22 people who are thought to have been in contact with the 40-year-old nurse, whose name has not been released.

Video: Spanish Nurse Contracts Ebola

They are also monitoring around 30 other members of the health care team that treated one of the missionaries.

Officials added that although the nurse began a holiday after one of the missionaries she had been caring for died on 25 September, she did not leave Madrid during this time.

She began feeling ill on 30 September and was diagnosed with ebola on Monday, but is in a stable condition.

EU countries have demanded an explanation from Spain's health minister as to how the nurse caught the disease, despite all the precautions taken

Video: Body Retrieval Worker Mark Korvoyan

A spokesman said a letter sent to the health minister sought "to obtain some clarification" from Spanish authorities, adding: "The priority remains to find out what actually happened."

Spain's health minister, Ana Mato, said an emergency protocol is in place and that authorities are working to establish the source of the contagion at the Madrid hospital.

"We are working to guarantee the safety of all citizens," she said.

In the US, President Barack Obama says airport screening measures are being stepped up in the country to help identify people who might have the deadly virus.

Video: Spanish Nurse Contracts Ebola Virus

More than 3,400 people have died in the latest ebola outbreak, which has swept through West African countries Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the British Army said more than 100 British Army medics were being sent to Sierra Leone to help tackle the ebola crisis within the next few weeks.

Personnel from the 22 Field Hospital have been undergoing an extensive training exercise in full protective suits, with simulated casualties in make-up.

They will staff a field hospital set up specifically to treat medics who have caught the disease, not members of the general public.

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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.

An Army spokeswoman said: "They are going through all their procedures and getting atuned to wearing their personal protective equipment, working in quite hot temperatures."

Experts say quarantine systems in developed countries including the UK, US and Spain mean the disease is very unlikely to spread to the same extent seen in poor African countries.

Travel firms also appear to have suffered amid the outbreak, with shares in airline group IAG, owner of British Airways and Iberia, down 6.5%.

Carnival Cruises are down 5.6%, Easyjet have fallen by 4.7% and Tui Travel by 3.2%.

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Putin Stronger Than Ever As He Turns 62

By Katie Stallard, north west Russia

Since his last birthday Vladimir Putin has annexed part of another country, hosted a Winter Olympics, weathered a storm of international criticism, and been kicked out of the G8.

A number of his close friends have been sanctioned, and the economy has stalled.

But the latest opinion poll puts Mr Putin's approval rating at 86%, close to his highest ever as he marks his 62nd birthday.

A fervour of patriotic sentiment, whipped up by state-controlled media, seems to be shielding the president from criticism at home.

But we wanted to find out whether that support extends beyond Moscow, and its gleaming skyscrapers.

By the side of the main road from Moscow to St Petersburg, the concrete suburbs give way to wooden villages in various stages of decay.

Alexei Alexeyevich talks to Sky's Katie Stallard

We met 75-year-old Alexei Alexeyevich, selling his apples by the side of the road.

He stands out here all day, making about £1.50 a bucket to supplement his pension, but he loves Vladimir Putin.

Video: Russian Views On Putin

"He is a great man, he's a real man!" he said, giving an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

"He gets everything done, he says what he thinks, and he does us good."

Further north, the landscape is beautiful, but life is tough.

A few kilometres off the main road, we passed the ruins of the long-abandoned collective farm that would once have been the main employer here.

Tatyana Smirnova, 53, has been told she will lose her job as a cleaner at the local community centre next month - there just aren't enough people to keep it open.

She said she would sell honey from her beehives. Her husband has multiple sclerosis, so where else would they go?

Video: Sky News Special Report: Putin

But still, she thinks Mr Putin is doing a good job.

"I think there is more order under his rule," she said.

"If you look at him, he goes around the country, and goes to other countries as well.

"He improves things everywhere."

When the power and water go off in the village, people here might be angry with the government - particularly the local government - but they don't seem to blame the man at the top.

In the forests of Valdai we found the gleaming golden domes of the Iversky monastery - restored at huge cost, reportedly with help from state-controlled companies.

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1. Gallery: Vladimir Putin - Man Of Action

   Vladimir Putin has earned a reputation as something of an action man. Here in 2013 he is seen shaking hands with a walrus on a visit to the under-construction Primorsky Aquarium.

2. Seemingly always keen to be seen with members of the animal kingdom, he was also pictured touching a dolphin during his trip to the new attraction on the Russky Island, in the far eastern city of Vladivostok.

3. Here, at a Moscow sports complex in St Petersburg, he shows off his judo skills.

4. He joined a group of scientists in the Arctic to help tag endangered polar bears.

5. In the Siberian mountains, he rode bare-chested on a horse.

6. Mr Putin walks along the Khemchik River in southern Siberia's Tuva region.

7. The Russian leader with a big catch from a fishing trip in Siberia ...

8. ... during which he was also photographed getting familiar with some other wild animals.

9. On a trip to Chkalov island, Mr Putin attached a satellite tracking tag to a Beluga whale.

10. He has taken to the skies...

12. Here, the president rolls in the snow with excitable dogs.

13. During a dive to an underwater archaeological site at Phanagoria on the Taman Peninsula, he returned to the surface with a precious artefact - but it later emerged that it had been planted in advance.

14. Mr Putin also made a grand entrance on a Harley Davidson at a biker festival in the town of Novorossiysk.

15. Mr Putin sits in a car from the Renault Formula One team before test driving it at a racing track in Leningrad Region.

The president is said to have a private residence nearby.

Quite a contrast to the old Soviet housing blocks in the town, and the babushkas selling vegetables and pickles in the bitter cold.

Sixty-seven-year-old Klaudia Mikhailovna's pension is not enough to live, but she's grateful for it and to Mr Putin.

"Under him we started getting our pensions and salaries on time - compared to Yeltsin there is a huge difference," she said.

The people we spoke to were frightened of chaos in Ukraine but they would rather have what they see as the stability of Mr Putin's rule - at pretty much any price.

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Putin: Muzhik To Ears Of Ordinary Russians

Beyond the gleaming skyscrapers of the capital, there is another Russia.

This is the Russia of small towns and decaying wooden villages, a countryside strewn with the remains of long abandoned collective farms, untouched by the recent oil wealth.

There are problems with jobs, electricity and water.

So you might expect people out here to be critical of their president.

Not so.

From the first truck stop, where we met a 63-year-old lady washing dishes to supplement her pension, to the babushkas manning markets stalls with pickles and vegetables in the cold in Valdai, we heard a litany of complaints, but none of it apparently Mr Putin's fault.

Men work on a car in a run-down village

Instead they described the Putin they see on the evening (state-controlled) TV news - the strong president striding from one high profile meeting to another, berating officials and travelling the world to stand up for Russia overseas.

"Putin can't solve everything, you know," one lady told us. "He can't personally do everything in the whole of the country to make things happen."

Video: Sky News Special Report: Putin

The implication was clearly that if he could, he would.

A retired tractor driver used the Russian word "muzhik" to describe Mr Putin.

It comes from the Russian for peasant, but means something more - a "manly man", a man of strength and integrity, a "salt of the earth" type who can be trusted.

The rouble has just hit an all-time low, capital flight for the year is expected to top $120bn, and inflation is more than 8%.

The oil and gas-dependent economy is stalling.

Video: How Popular Is Putin In Russia?

But domestically, Mr Putin is flying.

Pumped up by the patriotic fervour whipped up by the national media, Mr Putin's approval rating is at 86%.

Whilst some of that could be the product of a population long-schooled in telling those in authority what they want to hear, the people we spoke to seemed genuinely happy with their president - he brings stability.

The older generation remembers the collapse of communism, and the painful transition to democracy.

Revolution in Russia tends to be followed by violence and uncertainty - and history says it doesn't end well.

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1. Gallery: Vladimir Putin - Man Of Action

   Vladimir Putin has earned a reputation as something of an action man. Here in 2013 he is seen shaking hands with a walrus on a visit to the under-construction Primorsky Aquarium.

2. Seemingly always keen to be seen with members of the animal kingdom, he was also pictured touching a dolphin during his trip to the new attraction on the Russky Island, in the far eastern city of Vladivostok.

3. Here, at a Moscow sports complex in St Petersburg, he shows off his judo skills.

4. He joined a group of scientists in the Arctic to help tag endangered polar bears.

5. In the Siberian mountains, he rode bare-chested on a horse.

6. Mr Putin walks along the Khemchik River in southern Siberia's Tuva region.

7. The Russian leader with a big catch from a fishing trip in Siberia ...

8. ... during which he was also photographed getting familiar with some other wild animals.

9. On a trip to Chkalov island, Mr Putin attached a satellite tracking tag to a Beluga whale.

10. He has taken to the skies...

12. Here, the president rolls in the snow with excitable dogs.

13. During a dive to an underwater archaeological site at Phanagoria on the Taman Peninsula, he returned to the surface with a precious artefact - but it later emerged that it had been planted in advance.

14. Mr Putin also made a grand entrance on a Harley Davidson at a biker festival in the town of Novorossiysk.

15. Mr Putin sits in a car from the Renault Formula One team before test driving it at a racing track in Leningrad Region.

Some of the ladies in Valdai said they had seen Mr Putin flying over in his helicopter, on his way to his private residence.

But they didn't seem to resent it, or the millions of roubles, rather they seemed to find it reassuring - that he was acting as a president should.

Russia is a vast country, and, so the logic goes, it needs a strong hand to hold it together.

Mr Putin is still the 'muzhik' out here.

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Ryanair Planes Damaged In Runway Collision

Two Ryanair planes have been damaged after colliding at Dublin Airport.

The aircraft, two Boeing 737s, clipped each other while taxiing on the runway this morning.

No injuries were reported after the wing tip of one plane scraped the tail of the other, said a Ryanair spokeswoman.

Emergency services were at the scene and the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is investigating.

No one was hurt in the collision. Pic: Emily Carroll

"Two of our aircraft were taxiing slowly to the runway at Dublin Airport this morning," the airline's spokeswoman said.

"The winglet of one aircraft appears to have scraped the tail of the other."

The planes had to return to the stands and the passengers are travelling on replacement aircraft.

Ryanair apologised for any inconvenience but played down any risk to passengers, saying: "There was no impact on customers on board."

An investigation is under way. Pic: Emily Carroll

An IAA spokesman said: "The Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has been notified and will conduct a further investigation.

"Dublin Airport is now fully operational, although passengers may anticipate some delays as a result of this morning's incident and are asked to check with their airlines directly for further information."

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Ebola: Seven Facts About The Deadly Disease

Ebola is a virulent virus that has killed thousands during the latest outbreak and is notorious for its low survival rate among sufferers of the full-blown disease. Here we explain what it is.

What is ebola?

Ebola is a virus that can develop into a full-blown disease known as ebola haemorrhagic fever (ebola HF) or ebola viral disease (EVD), which in some patients leads to massive internal and external bleeding.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not flesh-eating, but destroys living tissue cells, which leads to the haemorrhaging, or bleeding.

Is it always fatal?

Video: Deadly Plague: In Ebola Country

The average fatality rate is 50% but case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% of people who contract the full-blown disease. It is not known why others survive.

Around 70% of those who have contracted ebola during the latest outbreak have died.

How is it transferred?

Ebola is transferred from person to person through contact with the blood or secretions of other bodily fluids of infected people.

It can also be caught from infected animals or during burial ceremonies in which mourners come into contact with dead victims.

Video: Ebola Outbreak: On The Front Line

Sufferers who are recovering after surviving the infection are known to have passed on the virus through sexual intercourse.

What are the symptoms?

Ebola often starts with a rapidly developing fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat.

This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, a rash, kidney and liver problems and bleeding.

In some patients death can be very painful, as the disease destroys connective tissue and also attacks skin and internal organs. The time from infection through to appearance of symptoms is between two and 21 days.

Video: Body Retrieval Worker Mark Korvoyan

How can it be prevented or treated?

There is no vaccine for ebola. Besides intensive supportive care to replace lost fluids (eg oral rehydration solution), the only medicine for the illness is ZMapp.

The experimental drug has been credited with saving lives since it was tested on sufferers for the first time this year.

However, it has not yet been subject to randomised clinical trials to establish its safety and whether it works.

Where does it come from?

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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.

The disease was first identified in Zaire in 1976, in a part of Africa that is now part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It is believed that fruit bats may be one of the hosts and is also known to be present in monkeys and apes.

It is thought it may have made the leap from animal to human through the custom of consuming bush meat, which is common in some parts of Africa.

How dangerous is it?

It is classified as a level 4 biohazard, regarded as the most dangerous and requiring decontamination for those who work with it.

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India Axes 'Laughable' Laws From British Rule

India is to repeal nearly 300 obscure laws dating back to the British Raj.

Among the archaic rules to be scrapped is a decree making it a criminal offence to unearth and keep treasure worth as little as 10 rupees (10p) because it still belongs to the British monarch.

A law from 1838 dictating that property in an area of the former imperial capital Calcutta - now called Kolkata - can only be sold to the East India Company, which laid the foundations of the British Empire but ceased to exist more than 150 years ago, is also set to be chopped.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took up office earlier this year, has made it one of his priorities to weed out 287 obsolete laws, after failed attempts by previous administrations. They are due to be axed during a session of Parliament in November. 

Mr Modi has made axing obsolete laws a priority

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is leading the legislative clean-up, said: "Some of the laws on our books are laughable. Others have no place in a modern and democratic India."

Another obscure rule to be scrapped is an act making flying kites or balloons without police permission illegal across India as they are classified as 'aircraft'.

A World War II decree outlawing the dropping of leaflets from the air in the state of Gujarat will also go.

And motoring laws stating that car inspectors in the state of Andhra Pradesh must have a clean set of teeth and anyone with a "pigeon chest, knock knees, flat foot, hammer toes and fractured limbs" is disqualified from driving will cease to exist too.

The Indian Government hopes that less regulation and faster decision-making will make India a less puzzling place to do business and attract more foreign investment.

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Jennifer Lawrence: Nude Photo Leak Is 'Sex Crime'

Jennifer Lawrence has spoken publicly for the first time about having private photos leaked by hackers, saying she believes it constitutes a "sex crime".

The Oscar-winning actress is one of dozens of stars who have had intimate images of themselves leaked online in the past few months.

After the first leak in August, Lawrence's representative said: "This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence."

But in a lengthy interview with Vanity Fair magazine, the 24-year-old has described her anger at the violation.

"Just because I'm a public figure, just because I'm an actress, does not mean that I asked for this," Lawrence said.

Lawrence says there needs to be a change in attitudes towards celebrities

"It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It's my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can't believe that we even live in that kind of world."

It is thought Lawrence took the photos while she was in a relationship with her ex-boyfriend Nicholas Hoult.

"I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years. It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he's going to look at you," she said.

The Silver Linings Playbook star told contributing editor Sam Kashner she would like to see the law changed with prosecution for websites such as 4chan which hosted the images.

Rihanna also had photos leaked

"It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It's disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change," Lawrence said.

The actress added though that "time does heal" and said she is "not crying about it anymore".

Kate Upton, Cara Delevingne, Aubrey Plaza, Cat Deeley, Kelly Brook, Kim Kardashian and Rihanna are among those also affected by the hacking.

Apple has investigated whether a breach in its iCloud led to hackers obtaining the images and the FBI has also launched an investigation.

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LED Tech Pioneers Win Nobel Physics Prize

The three men whose invention two decades ago led to the creation of LED technology have won the Nobel Prize in physics.

Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano, from Japan, and US scientists Shuji Nakamura invented blue light-emitting diodes which led to modern day computer and smartphone displays.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the invention has "contributed to create white light in an entirely new manner to the benefit of us all."

Until their invention, scientists had struggled for decades to produce the blue diodes that are a crucial component in producing white light from LEDs.

The three laureates made their breakthroughs in the early 1990s, transforming lighting technology.

LEDs are longer-lasting and more energy-efficient than older sources of light.

The Nobel committee said: "They succeeded where everyone else had failed.

"Incandescent light bulbs lit the 20th century; the 21st century will be lit by LED lamps."

Now 85, Prof Akasaki works at Meijo University and Nagoya University.

Prof Amano, 54, is also a professor at Nagoya University, while Prof Nakamura, 60, is professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Prof Akasaki said in a news conference that he had often been told his research would not work.

But he said he was confident he could succeed.

The Nobel committee said LEDs helped to conserve the Earth's resources because about a quarter of world electricity consumption is used for lighting.

LEDs last 10 times longer than fluorescent lamps and 100 times longer than incandescent light bulbs.

They will share a $1.1m (£680,000) prize.

Last year's physics award went to Britain's Peter Higgs and Belgian colleague Francois Englert for helping to explain how matter formed after the Big Bang.

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S Korea Ferry Captain: I Should Have Done More

The captain of the South Korean ferry that sunk - killing more than 300 people - has admitted to his murder trial that he should have done more to get passengers to safety.

Testifying for the first time in court, Lee Joon-Seok said his decision-making process was paralysed by shock as the boat started sinking, but insisted he had never intended to sacrifice others' lives to save himself.

Most of those who died were children when the 6,825-tonne Sewol capsized and sank on 16 April.

The captain and crew faced heavy criticism for abandoning the ferry while hundreds were still trapped inside, and for ordering passengers to remain where they were when the ship began listing.

"I was stunned by the accident and I lost my ability to make decisions," Lee told the court in the southwestern city of Gwangju.

"I failed to take the necessary measures for passengers to leave the ship.

"(But) I swear I never thought passengers should be left to die in order for me to make it to safety first."                 

The disaster sparked a huge rescue operation

The bespectacled Lee, dressed in a khaki prison uniform, appeared tense and stammered during his testimony.

The 69-year-old and three senior crew members are accused of "homicide through wilful negligence" - a charge that can carry the death penalty.

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1. Gallery: Relatives Mourn Ferry Victims

   Members of the public and relatives of the victims of the South Korean ferry disaster have gathered at an official memorial altar set up in Hwarang Garden in Ansan.

2. Of the 476 people on board the ferry, 325 were students from the same high school in Ansan. Only 75 of them were rescued.

3. Meanwhile, the country's president apologised to the people of South Korea for her government's "insufficiency" in handling the tragedy. Click through for more images...

Eleven other crew are being tried on lesser violations of maritime law.

The findings of a five-month investigation by state prosecutors concluded that a deadly combination of cargo overloading, illegal redesign and poor helmsmanship had caused the disaster.

Under questioning by prosecutors in court, Lee said he knew that crew member Cho Jun-Ki, who was steering the ship after working on the Sewol for only six months, did not have the required skill and experience.

When asked if he should have taken the helm as the ship entered a channel notorious for its strong underwater currents, Lee replied: "Yes, I guess so."

Overloaded and top-heavy following an illegal refit, the ship made a sharp turn in the channel, causing it to list sharply to one side.

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1. Gallery: Images: Recovery & Grief

   Divers with the South Korean Navy search for missing passengers at the site of the sunken ferry off the coast of Jindo Island.

2. Rescuers have struggled to gain access to the ferry because of strong currents, at times ripping off divers' facemasks.

3. Relatives sit on a wall as they wait for news about missing loved ones in Jindo harbour.

4. Hundreds of people are involved in the search operation, but poor visibility has hampered attempts to get into the vessel.

5. A relative sits with others inside a gymnasium used as a gathering point for family members of missing passengers aboard the sunken South Korean ferry Sewol.

6. Members of South Korean rescue team carry the body of a passenger retrieved from the capsized ferry.

7. South Korea has spent heavily on salvage and rescue equipment.

8. Relatives of missing passengers from the sunken ferry scuffle with police as they try to go to the presidential house for more information.

9. Relatives of missing passengers from the sunken ferry grieve as more bodies are recovered from the water.

10. The bodies of victims recovered from the Sewol are carried to waiting ambulances at Jindo harbour.

11. Rescue workers carry the body of another victim of the sunken ferry off the coast of Jindo Island after divers broke windows to get access to the ship.

12. Firemen salute the bodies of victims recovered from the Sewol after being carried to waiting ambulances.

13. An ambulance transporting the bodies of victims recovered from the Sewol drives past policemen at a harbour in Jindo.

This caused the cargo to shift and the ferry was unable to right itself, eventually capsizing and sinking.

Asked where he was when the Sewol ran into trouble, Lee said he was in his cabin "smoking and changing clothes".

He denied allegations by some crew members that he had been playing games on his mobile phone.

"No, I wasn't playing a game. I wouldn't know how to. I was just holding the smartphone," he said.

Lee claims the ferry's owners are to blame as it was their decision to habitually overload the ferry.

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