Family Of Four Found Dead In Bradford Home

The bodies of four people have been discovered at a house in Bradford, police have said.

Officers were called at around 8.30pm on Monday to the home in Blackberry Way, Clayton, after a man, woman and two teenage girls were found dead.

They have been identified as Jitendra Lad, 49, his wife Duksha Lad, 44 and their daughters Trisha, 19, and 17-year-old Nisha.

West Yorkshire Police said a murder investigation has been launched, but officers were not looking for anybody else in relation to the deaths.

The home in Clayton, near Bradford, has been cordoned off

Officers were called to the house by a neighbour, who was concerned they had not seen the family. Early indications suggest the bodies may have been in the property "for some time".

Detective Superintendent Simon Atkinson said: "This is clearly a significant incident and our investigation will be thorough as we piece together the events that that have led to the deaths of a local family.

"We are now undertaking forensic inquiries to establish how these people have died.

Trisha, 19, and Nisha, 17, pictured together

"We are clearly keeping an open mind but from what we know at the moment we are not looking for anybody else.

"It is an extremely distressing time for the family and friends. We are trying to get as many answers as to what has happened in the property."

Jessica Garside, a friend of Trisha, said: "She was so lovely. She always had a bright smile on her face.

"I feel numb at the moment. I don't feel like it's happened. I still feel like I'm going to go to the bus stop one day and she'll be stood there smiling as ever. It's heartbreaking to know she won't be."

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UKIP Hits New Poll High After £1.7bn EU Bill

Support for UKIP has hit a new high according to a new survey carried out in the wake of the £1.7bn EU surcharge demand.

The ComRes poll, carried out for The Independent newspaper, showed support for the Labour Party has fallen by five points to 30% since last month - its lowest rating under leader Ed Miliband.

The Conservatives were up one percentage point, also putting them at 30%.

But UKIP has climbed four points to 19%, beating their highest previous rating - achieved in June - by 1%.

The poll revealed the Liberal Democrats were down one point on 9%, the Greens remain unchanged on 4% and support for other parties was also unchanged on 7%

Video: PM: EU Demand 'Not Acceptable'

ComRes interviewed 1,002 adults between 24 October and 26 October for the survey.

On Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons the EU charge was "not acceptable".

He said: "It cannot just be nodded through by the EU bureaucracy - it is British taxpayers' money.

Video: EC Chief: £1.7bn UK Surcharge Fair

"We will be challenging this in every way possible. We want to check on the way the statistics were arrived at, the methodology that was used. We will crawl through this in exhaustive detail."

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has insisted Brussels is only following procedures created by members states to balance the EU's books.

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Huge Supercomputer To Boost Weather Forecasts

A 140-ton supercomputer that can perform more than 16,000 trillion calculations per second is set to give the UK its most accurate weather forecasts ever.

The £97m machine will be fired up at the Met Office next year and will crunch data at a blistering rate using the memory equivalent to 120,000 top-end smartphones.

It will be 13 times more powerful than the current system, making it one of the world's fastest high performance computers (HPCs).

Met Office's chief executive Rob Varley said the machine would be a "step change", allowing hourly updates and highly detailed forecasts for areas as small as 300m.

Supercomputers can handle trillions of calculations per second

For example, it will allow airports to pinpoint the timing and extent of fog disruption far more effectively.

The Cray XC40 system will weigh the same as 11 double decker buses and is expected to be split between Met Office Headquarters in Exeter and a new purpose-built building at the city's Science Park.

Video: Sky News UK Weather Update

Some £2bn of benefits are expected, according to forecasters, because it will allow the public and businesses to better plan for extreme weather, such as this year's floods in the south of England.

"The new supercomputer, together with improved observations, science and modelling, will deliver better forecasts and advice to support UK business, the public and government, " said Mr Varley.

"It will help to make the UK more resilient to high impact weather and other environmental risks."

Sky News weather presenter Isobel Lang said: "The higher resolution will make it easier to map our orography and topography, but we still need the data coverage to match these improvements. It is an excellent step in the right  direction, though, towards the perfect forecast.

"There will be great research benefits especially regarding climate change and forecasting severe weather.

"It is exciting - all we need now is for it to make the weather we want."

The boss of supercomputer company Cray, Peter Ungaro, said he was "truly honoured" to get the contract - the biggest international deal in its history.

The first phase of the system will be operational in September 2015 and it will reach full capacity in 2017.

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Charity Warning Over Rise In UK Child Poverty

By Afua Hirsch, Social Affairs Editor

Child poverty in the UK increased significantly during the recession, according to a new report which criticises wealthy countries for failing to protect the most vulnerable from the effects of the economic downturn.

Data collected by UN organisation Unicef ranks the UK 25th out of 41 countries in taking measures to cushion the impact of the economy on children and families.

Chile, Poland and Slovakia all outperformed the UK, experiencing a reduction in child poverty.

"Here in the UK we have seen rates of severe material deprivation for children get worse," said David Bull, executive director of Unicef UK.

"There are only six countries in the 41 country study that have seen that material deprivation worsening at a greater rate than the UK."

For one single mother, the effect of the recession squeezing the family budget is a daily reality.

"The quality of our food intake has definitely gone down because of the financial struggles," said Alicia Gomes, 23, who lives on a council estate in south London with her three-year-old daughter Destiny.

"I think the Government should give more help to lone parents. We do eat normal cooked meals, but it's easier to live off frozen food because we get more offers."

"What I find quite upsetting is that we struggle so much and then there's people out there getting free meals in prison and clean bedding, and we are struggling so much to do that ourselves.

"The people doing wrong seem to get more support than the people doing the right things in life."

Ms Gomes says most of her income is taken up by food shopping, council tax, and pay as you go electricity which is often on the emergency setting.

Sally Plumb, Strategic Partnership Manager for two children's centres in the London borough of Lambeth, said some families were in an extreme situation.

"I do think that we should be shocked about the levels of poverty in the western world. It is almost like a third world country around here. A lot of children around here don't have beds, they are not eating properly," she said.

But the Government disputed the Unicef findings.

The Department for Work and Pensions said: "Unicef is drawing distorted comparisons with this data.

"UK official national statistics show that under this Government, around 300,000 fewer children are in poverty or growing up in workless families. Our reforms are improving the lives of some of the poorest families by promoting work and helping people to lift themselves out of poverty."

Unicef said that although its figures were not the most recent available, they provided a comparative context on the UK's performance up to 2013.

"Our report shows that particularly in the UK child poverty has worsened. It also shows that isn't inevitable," said Mr Bull.

"Other countries like Austria have had bonus payments and tax payments that have been very progressive in terms of impact they have had on poorest children."

"There's a lot that we should do to make the right choices."

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How Weather Forecasting Has Changed In 20 Years

September 1991 is when I started life as a weather forecaster at the London Weather Centre in Holborn.

It was much more of a hands-on experience then, with paper charts to analyse and hand draw the fronts, highs and lows.

It felt as if the human forecaster was almost more important and reliable than the computer models – many people had been in the Met Office for decades with a wealth of knowledge and experience.

Their "gut feeling" about certain weather set ups often brought a more accurate forecast than the models.

A mock-up of the Exeter building where the computer will be housed

Back then, the Cray computer calculated 10 Gflops a second and had a local resolution of 17km.

The computer modelled 19 vertical levels through the atmosphere. It was all about interpretation and judgement – comparing the models with real information from radar and satellite.

Video: Met Office To Get Supercomputer

It has often been said that today's four-day forecasts are as accurate as the old one-day forecast. So, obviously, some dramatic changes in technology have taken place through my meteorological career.

By 2009, when I had moved to Sky Weather, the Met Office had continued to invest and upgrade its computers to the IBM Power6 which brought 140 Tflops of calculations a second with a local resolution of 1.5km through 70 vertical levels of the atmosphere.

It is a faster computer with good resolution and coverage and, in comparison to 1991, the models are reliable and accurate.

I do still make comparisons with real data and see how the model is fairing but it is often very good and the consistency gives confidence too.

The new supercomputer is even faster and over an amazingly high local resolution of 300m.

This will map our orography and topography accurately but we still need the data coverage to match these improvements. It is an excellent step in the right direction, though, towards the perfect forecast.

The development will excite all those involved in studying the weather, and those who receive our forecasts will hopefully notice changes in our confidence with the models and our accuracy.

In this day and age when it's all about information, I think it will give the customer more of what they want. It would be nice if we could actually make the weather too!

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Energy Crunch: Plan To Keep The Lights On

National Grid has warned the UK may be forced to resort to emergency measures to keep the lights on if bad weather strikes this winter, with households picking up the bill.

Its annual Winter Outlook report looking at the capacity margin - the gap between total electricity generating capacity and peak demand - was compiled as the country misses output from five key power stations following fires or safety checks.

The network operator put the figure at just 4.1% - its narrowest since 2006/7 - and said that margin of spare capacity could fall further to just 2.8% if weather conditions took a turn for the worse.

Such a scenario would mean the grid failing to meet its "basic reserve requirement" of spare capacity needed to run the system, forcing it to adopt contingencies such as paying factories to shut down and supplying reserves from mothballed power stations.

Power station fires have hit electricity output

National Grid said it was finalising contracts with three sites, Littlebrook in Kent, Rye House in Hertfordshire and Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, to provide reserve capacity that would widen the margin by 2%.

Having to use these power stations would add £1 to the average family bill, the operator confirmed, as it would cost £25m.

1/5

1. Gallery: Blackout Britain: 1970s Power Cuts

   Paul Caldecott, six, was forced to stay at school because his parents couldn't pick him up

2. Four women work in a Slumberdown office in Bond Street, London, during a miners' strike in 1973

3. A woman breastfeeding her baby during a blackout at St Andrews Hospital, Dollis Hill, northwest London

4. Working for Slumberdown had its advantages, as these women could wrap themselves in quilts to keep warm during a blackout

5. Customers and staff at an HMV shop in Oxford Street, London, during a power cut in December 1973

The prospect of an electricity crunch has risen since the summer, when a key measure of risk, called Loss of Load Expectation (Lole) was forecast at 0.5 hours for the coming winter.

Since then the Lole risk measure has risen to 1.6 hours, factoring in the fires that have caused the permanent shutdown of Ironbridge in Shropshire and the temporary closure of Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire.

A power station in Barking will also close, while a planned return to service for four EDF nuclear reactors at Heysham in Morecambe, Lancashire, and at Hartlepool, will see them return at only 75% capacity.

A fire earlier this month put half of operations out of action at Didcot B power station in Oxfordshire - which has capacity to supply a million homes.

The part of the site affected by the blaze is expected to return to around 50% service this week.

The Grid report said gas supplies were well ahead of expected peak demand but warned of the uncertain impact of tensions over Ukraine, which could strangle availability from the continent.

Video: Warning Expected Over Blackout Risk

The report warned that in the "extreme scenario" of cold winter conditions and Russia cutting off supplies, the UK may have to arrange factory shutdowns as well and rely on expensive imports from markets further afield such as Asia and South America.

Cordi O'Hara, director of market operation, said: "The electricity margin has decreased compared to recent years, but the outlook remains manageable and well within the reliability standard set by Government.

"As system operator, we have taken the sensible precaution to secure additional tools to bolster our response to tighter margins."

Energy Minister Matt Hancock said lights would stay on across the country.

He told BBC Radio 4: "There will be secure energy supplies this winter. There will be no power cuts to householders."

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Leeds Kids' Care Report Slams Whistleblowers

By Gerard Tubb, North of England Correspondent

An independent investigation into the temporary closure of children's heart surgery in Leeds last year has blamed a badly-compiled dossier of complaints and poorly-managed medics.

The strongest criticism for the 11-day closure in March 2013 by NHS England over safety concerns is levelled at the rival Newcastle children's heart unit which claimed it was whistleblowing on failings in Leeds.

Surgeon Nihal Weerasena is under investigation by the GMC

Independent investigators have accused medics from Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust and its chief executive Sir Leonard Fenwick of passing on unsubstantiated complaints.

"Reporting the unchecked allegations of others is not whistleblowing, and Newcastle should have made the status of their concerns clearer when they reported them," it said.

Video: Bad Report Halted Kids' Heart Ops

The report blames heart specialists at both units for "disagreements and personality clashes" and says management at both centres could have been better.

"Managers at affected trusts... have a responsibility to ensure that strong, respectful relationships are maintained between staff at 'competing' trusts," it says.

The rivalry between the trusts followed a bitter row over a decision by NHS England to close the Leeds unit and retain the Newcastle service, which has since been placed under review.

The political nature of some complaints from parents in the Newcastle "dossier" were also criticised.

Video: 'Forgotten Families' Of Hospital

"Those receiving the concerns and acting on them should have distinguished between concerns to which parents wanted answers and those being communicated for political purposes," the report says.

NHS England said at the time that the closure was for a "constellation" of reasons including poor data submission and the absence of both senior heart surgeons, one of whom was on holiday, the other under internal investigation.

The report backs NHS England's stance, saying: "Leeds senior management at the time should have ensured that data (on heart surgery patients) was full, accurate and submitted on time."

Sky News revealed last week that the second surgeon, Nihal Weerasena, is now under investigation by the General Medical Council over allegations about his fitness to practise.

Video: Leeds Hospital: Parents' Outrage

The report, described as the final "overarching" review of events that led to the closure has been welcomed by NHS England, which commissioned it.

NHS England's deputy medical director, Dr Mike Bewick, said: "Patients should be reassured that this service has been rigorously scrutinised and has improved as a result.

"Patients and the public can have confidence that this is a well-run unit and is now in a position to go from strength to strength."

The closure came the month after the publication of the Francis report into failings at Mid Staffordshire which warned that the NHS must act on safety concerns.

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Second Brother From UK Family Killed In Syria

A young British Muslim whose brother died fighting in Syria has also been killed, their father has said.

Jaffar Deghayes, 17, is believed to have died at the weekend after leaving his home near Brighton earlier this year in a bid to overthrow Bashar al Assad's government.

His brother, Abdullah, 18, died in Latakia province in April after leaving the UK in January to reportedly take up arms with Jabhat al Nusra, an al Qaeda affiliated group.

On Monday the pair's brother, Amer, 20, who also travelled to Syria, relayed news of the death of Jaffar to their father, Abubaker Deghayes, back home in Saltdean, East Sussex.

Omar Deghayes, Jaffar's uncle, was once held in Guantanamo Bay

Mr Deghayes said: "Amer sent me a message via the internet. All I know is that (Jaffar) was fighting against Assad and was killed in battle.

"I don't know much else. I can only hope and pray to God to accept him and have mercy on him."

Video: April 2014: Father's Syria Warning

A tribute group was set up to the teenager on Facebook. Posts from friends included: "Today is one of my worse days of my life, waking up to read that one of my brothers (has) gone, yet gone but never forgotten I love you so much mate. R.I.P Jaffar."

Another read: "No matter what people say; we know you were doing what you believed in and paid the ultimate price! R.I.P, you're in paradise with your brother now! Xxx"  

Reacting to reports of the death of another British jihadi in Syria, Security Minister James Brokenshire told Sky News that it "underlined the instability, the real risk to anyone who does travel out to the region".

Warning against travelling to Syria, he added: "It does not help the situation there and it puts them at real personal risk and also risk of radicalisation and exploitation even if that may not have been their intent in travelling out."

The Deghayes brothers are the nephew of Omar Deghayes, who was held by the United States as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay detention camp between 2002 and 2007 after he was arrested in Pakistan. 

Following the death of Abdullah, the teenager's father told Sky News that his son was "no danger" to the UK. He also urged other young men not to travel to Syria to fight, saying the country was in need of political support instead.    

In May, counter-terrorism officers raided the Deghayes' family home and seized material after a warrant was issued under the 2000 Terrorism Act.

Counter-terrorism investigators have expressed concern about aspiring British jihadis travelling to Syria and becoming radicalised.

It emerged this month that a fourth man from Portsmouth, Hampshire - 19-year-old Muhammad Mehdi Hassan - died fighting in Kobani.

Three others from the same city - Iftekar Jaman, 23, Mamunur Roshid, 24, and Muhammad Hamidur Rahman, 25 - have also been killed after travelling there in October last year.

In January alone, 16 people were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences related to Syria compared with 24 arrests in the whole of last year.

Others who have died include one man suspected of carrying out a suicide attack.

Abdul Waheed Majeed, 41, is believed to have driven a lorry to a jail in Aleppo before detonating a bomb in February.

The married father-of-three, who was born and raised in Crawley, West Sussex, left Britain in 2013, telling his family he was going on a humanitarian mission to Syria.

Jaffar's death comes as Islamic State released a new video featuring British hostage John Cantlie which purportedly shows him in Kobani.

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Huhne Loses Court Challenge Over £77k Costs

Chris Huhne has lost a court challenge against an order that he must pay £77,750 costs from his prosecution.

The former Cabinet minister and ex-wife Vicky Pryce have served jail terms for perverting the course of justice after she took speeding points for him in 2003.

The costs order was made in May at London's Southwark Crown Court after prosecutors claimed more than £100,000 from Huhne.

Now, three judges at the Court of Appeal have rejected his case at a hearing in the capital.

Huhne pleaded guilty last February while economist Pryce, who was convicted by a jury, was ordered to pay £49,200.

Vicky Pryce also served time behind bars

They were both jailed for eight months.

The speeding points scandal brought about the end of Huhne's political career.

It forced him to stand down as a Cabinet minister and later to resign as an MP.

The costs order was made by Mr Justice Sweeney at Southwark Crown Court.

Rejecting all grounds of challenge, Lord Justice Davis, sitting with Mr Justice King and Judge Michael Stokes, said Mr Justice Sweeney had "reached a conclusion as to what was just and reasonable which was open to him".

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Calais Mayor: UK Is 'Magnet' For Asylum Seekers

Britain's policy of paying benefits to asylum seekers is acting as a "magnet" for people trying to cross the Channel, the Mayor of Calais has told MPs.

In the past, Natacha Bouchart has threatened to block the French port unless the UK does more to control the number of migrants trying to get to Britain.

Giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, she said Britain is seen as a "soft touch" because it pays £36 a week to asylum seekers.

"You have a much more favourable regime in Britain than in other European countries, partly because of the language, partly because of the weekly benefit of £36 for asylum seekers, which is a huge amount for people who have nothing in their lives," she said.

"We do not have asylum seekers in Calais - they do not want asylum in France, they want to got to England."

Ms Bouchart said new European regulations are needed to control the flow of migrants to Britain.

She added: "The people of Calais have a right to live in peace. (We're) not against having some sort of centre for refugees.

"The migrant population has changed now - (it's) much more violent and they are harassing the people of Calais, and there are a lot of mafia and traffickers in the population."

More follows...

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