Robbie Williams Regrets 'Rehab And Geri Fling'

Robbie Williams has told a London crowd his life regrets - including a fling with Geri Halliwell - during a one-off show to promote his new swing album.

The singer played a one-off big band show at the London Palladium, which included guest performances from the likes of Lily Allen, Rufus Wainwright and Miss Piggy.

During the performance Williams poked fun at himself and other celebrities, and revealed several things he may change about his career.

"For a long time, as long as I can remember, I've felt a little bit stupid. I left school without any GCSEs, nothing higher than a D," he told the crowd.

"I'm the first to admit I've made a couple of mistakes.

Robbie Williams performed several numbers during the show

"Two trips to rehab. Rudebox the album. Geri Halliwell - I should have gone for Victoria really, shouldn't I? I'd have been really famous."

He then began singing the song If Only I Had A Brain, from the Wizard of Oz, before adding: "Sorry, Geri Halliwell."

Williams also spoke about his new baby daughter, Theodora, who he called the best thing to ever happen to him.

"I took her to nursery for the first time two days ago. She learned to walk 10 days ago.

"She's the love of my life."

Williams' new album Swings Both Ways comes out November 18.

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Utah Doctor Guilty Of 'Almost Perfect' Murder

A Utah doctor and former bishop has been found guilty of murdering his wife in a bathtub after drugging her, bringing to an end a trial that has gripped the nation.

Father-of-eight, Martin MacNeill was accused of knocking out Michele MacNeill with drugs after cosmetic surgery, then helping her into the tub before holding her head underwater.

Family testimony suggested it was MacNeill who insisted his 50-year-old wife, a former local beauty queen, get the surgery.

Prosecutors said he used it as an excuse to mix painkillers, Valium and sleeping pills for her supposed recovery

Prosecutor Chad Grunander said "it was an almost perfect murder," and that the doctor "pumped her full of drugs" that he knew would be difficult to detect once she was dead.

Prosecutors said MacNeill contrived a medical condition in the weeks leading up to his wife's death, telling many around him he was dying of cancer or multiple sclerosis to absolve him of any motive in the death.

A family photo of Michele and Martin MacNeill

During the three-week trial prosecutors argued Mrs MacNeill's mistress was the motive for killing his wife six years ago.

Gypsy Willis testified that she had a 15-month affair with the doctor at the time of Mrs MacNeill's death and that she was hired as a nanny and given a marriage proposal shortly after her death.

But Ms Willis said she ended the affair years ago and she did not know anything about the death.

The case captured national attention because MacNeill was a wealthy doctor with a law degree, a father of eight in a picture-perfect family and a former bishop.

Before he was charged with murder in 2012, MacNeill served time in a federal prison in Texas on fraud charges.

He also served time for using the identity of one of his adopted daughters to escape a debt-heavy history.

His only son committed suicide in January 2010.

MacNeill was medical director of the Utah State Development Center, a residential centre for people with cognitive disorders.

Along with murder, he was also convicted of obstruction of justice.

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Sochi Olympic Torch Taken On Spacewalk

Two Russian cosmonauts have begun a five-hour spacewalk with the Olympic torch for the upcoming Winter Games in Sochi.

Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky took the unlit torch on a spacewalk from the International Space Station (ISS) more than 260 miles (420 kilometres) above the Earth. 

Kotov waved the torch in his gloved hand outside the ISS, while he floated almost directly above Australia. 

The torch was tethered to his spacesuit to ensure it didn't float away. 

The Olympic torch is held in open space

"Beautiful," said Ryazansky, as he watched his fellow cosmonaut. 

The pair exchanged the torch in open space and filmed the event using high-tech video and photo equipment 

Earlier, Kotov had promised to steer clear of any grand speeches to mark the stunt. 

"Such momentous events are usually marked by some sort of grand pronouncement," Kotov said from the space station.

It is the first time in history the torch has been taken on a spacewalk

"But we are not going to be so original.

"Our speeches will be dedicated to the promotion of the Olympic movement, healthy lifestyles and the development of sport around the world."

Russia had originally contemplated sending the actual flame up to the station by encasing it in a special lantern, but internationally agreed rules governing the ISS forbid flames from being lit because they would burn up the limited supplies of oxygen available to the crew.

The torch being taken on to the Soyuz rocket

The torch will spend just over five hours in open space, before the cosmonauts begin the more mundane task of maintaining the ISS. 

The feather-shaped silver and red symbol of peace and friendship has already been sent to the North Pole aboard a nuclear-powered icebreaker and is still set to visit the bottom of Baikal, the world's deepest freshwater lake.

The torch also visited the ISS ahead of the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta and the 2000 event in Sydney, but it has never before been taken out on a spacewalk.

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Miliband: Energy Bill Freeze 'Would Save £100m'

Freezing energy prices would save the taxpayer more than £100m in reduced fuel bills for public services such as hospitals and schools, says Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Labour has promised to freeze the price of bills until 2017 and "reset the broken energy market" if the party wins the 2015 general election.

The Opposition leader - speaking during a visit to Crouch End in north London - said £40 million would be cut from NHS costs, £28 million from schools and £21 million from defence if the move was implemented now.

The Tories have dismissed the price freeze idea as a "con", suggesting energy firms would simply push up prices in the run up to any freeze or immediately afterwards.

Controversial energy price rises have seen the average bill go up by an average of nine per cent and made the issue a hot political topic.

Mr Miliband said: "If Labour win the next election, we will freeze energy prices until 2017.

"Labour's price freeze will save families an average £120 and an average small business user would benefit by over £5,000.

Mr Miliband revealed the price freeze pledge at his party's conference

He added: "It's not just Britain's families and businesses that would benefit from this price freeze, it's our vital public services too.

"New figures today show that if David Cameron put in place our freeze today, public services would save £100m.

"And that matters more than ever in an era when there's less money around."

He said savings to the NHS were the equivalent of 1,300 nurses' salaries and that school savings could pay for the salaries of over 700 teachers.

Labour's figures are drawn mainly from answers to a series of parliamentary questions by shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie.

Parliament earlier this week voted against Labour's proposal to freeze energy prices for 20 months but Labour is pushing ahead with the pledge as part of its strategy to win the next election.

The coalition government argues that a price freeze is not workable.

Instead it is putting in place an annual competition check by regulators, while the Conservatives will push for green levies on bills to be rolled back in the Chancellor's autumn statement in December.

Representatives from the 'Big Six' energy companies were also recently grilled by MPs, with E.ON boss Tony Cocker calling for a Competition Commission inquiry to reassure customers.

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Star Wars Auditions Being Held In Bristol

Hundreds of Star Wars hopefuls have been queuing for hours in Bristol on the first day of open auditions for two leading roles in the next instalment of the sci-fi franchise.

An audition notice put out by Disney on Twitter earlier this week says it is on a "nationwide search for lead roles for a Walt Disney Pictures film".

The casting call says it is looking for a girl called "Rachel" and a boy called "Thomas".

"Rachel" is described as "street smart and strong" and "always a survivor, never a victim"; while "Thomas" has "grown up without a father's influence" but is "smart, capable and shows courage when it is needed".

The advert says candidates must be good looking and athletic - over 16 for the female role or over 18 for the male role.

Up to 1,000 people are estimated to have turned up in Bristol and organisers were later sending people away.

The success of the original Star Wars made its characters world famous

Further open auditions are to take place in Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin and London.

Jasmine Du'Pre, the first in line at Bristol, told Sky News she had arrived at 2pm on Friday.

She admitted it had been "freezing" overnight but said it was a chance she could not miss.

She said: "On my god, this is Star Wars, when I heard about it I just had to get here. It's such an amazing opportunity.

"The acting industry is really hard to get into. For people to have the opportunity to show their skills, to be seen, is fantastic."

Speaking after her moment in the spotlight, she said the casting directors were "really nice" but did not ask her to recite any lines.

"They basically told us where to go, we filled out some forms and sat in front of one person and they asked us a few questions.

Star Trek director JJ Abrams is directing the new film

"They asked me if I had done any acting before ... The other thing they wanted to know is what I do for a hobby and how I relax.

"We were just engaged in a conversation. It was quite friendly and a nice atmosphere to be yourself."

It is thought that each person gets about five minutes to impress.

Sky News' Clare Fallon said the hopefuls in Bristol appear keen to put on a 'professional' show.

"No fancy dress costumes, no light sabres," said Fallon. "Most of them are very serious about being in this film."

Some hopefuls were called back, and told Fallon they were given a "bit of a script" to learn before they faced the casting directors again.

Disney announced the three new Star Wars films in October 2012 when it purchased George Lucas' Lucasfilm company for $4.05bn (£2.7bn).

The next instalment, Star Wars: Episode VII, will be made by Emmy-award-winning director JJ Abrams next year at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.

The three icons of the original Star Wars movies - Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher - are expected to make a comeback.

The film will open in cinemas on December 18, 2015.

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Funeral Appeal After WWII Veteran Dies Alone

Hundreds of people are expected to attend a funeral of a war veteran they never knew after it emerged he died with no close friends or relatives.

Harold Jellicoe Percival served as RAF ground crew and helped with the famous Dambusters raids during the Second World War.

He died last month aged 99 in a nursing home.

Mr Percival's funeral will be held at 11am on Armistice Day at a crematorium in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire.

The veteran never married, had no children and has no close family members able to go to the service.

A request for servicemen first went out in a local newspaper

But after publicity in local newspapers and social media, funeral directors say they are now hoping for a good turnout.

The RAF Association tweeted that its "Northern area will be in attendance" so Mr Percival "won't be alone".

Afghanistan veteran Rick Clement, who lost both legs in 2010, has been using Twitter and Facebook to urge people to turn up to pay their respects.

"Need a big favour from any military or ex serving members. This fallen soldier at 99 years old is having a funeral on Monday," he said.

"It says he has no family to attend in Lytham St Anne's. If your in the area can you give him the send off he deserves." 

He later thanked all those who had supported the appeal, saying: "Harold is going to get an amazing send off."

Comedian Jason Manford has also got behind the campaign.

Mr Percival lived in Penge, south London, before joining the RAF.

He was based in northwest England and became part of the ground crew which helped the Dambusters, the squadron which was initially formed to destroy dams in the Ruhr valley in Nazi Germany.

Mr Percival helped support the Dambusters' daring raid during World War Two

After working in Australia, he later retired to England and lived at a care home in Lytham St Annes.

Matron Janet Wareing said: "Harold was a lovely character, very strong-willed and independent.

"He was quite a private man, and he loved reading his Daily Telegraph every morning.

"We have already been contacted by military veterans who are intending to come, even though they have never met him.

"We've been told one group is looking to bring around 200 people to the service, which would be fantastic."

Mr Percival does have a nephew, David Worsell, but he is not able to attend so his son - Mr Percival's great nephew - will represent the family.

He was a distant relative of former British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, the only PM to have ever been assassinated.

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Super Typhoon Haiyan: Thousands Feared Dead

Thousands of people are feared to have been killed in the areas of the Philippines hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan.

The country's Red Cross says it has been told there are 1,000 dead in Tacloban and 200 in Samar alone.

A Red Cross spokesman said: "We now fear that thousands will have lost their lives."

Flooded fields and wrecked villages in Iloilo Province

The scale of devastation led one UN disaster official to compare the destruction to that caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The official death toll had reached 138 by 1pm on Saturday (UK time) but there are fears the eventual death toll will be "massive" after the tropical cyclone smashed through the country with winds gusting up to 170mph.

And there are growing fears for Vietnam which is now in the path of what has been called one of the most powerful recorded cyclones in history.

A truck was picked up by the high winds and slammed against a tree

Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, head of a United Nations disaster assessment coordination team, said: "This is destruction on a massive scale.

"The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami."

Around 220,000 people died as a result of that disaster.

Typhoon Haiyan pictured from International Space Station

Gwendolyn Pang, Philippine Red Cross secretary general said: "An estimated more than 1,000 bodies were seen floating in Tacloban. In Samar, about 200 deaths. Validation is ongoing."

When asked how many had died in just the coastal town of Palo and its surrounding area, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said: "I think hundreds. Palo, Ormoc, Burauen... Carigara, they all looked the same."

Scores of towns and villages are thought to have been inundated with water after storm surges flooded low-lying areas, drowning many in their path.

A mother weeps beside the dead body of her son

TV pictures showed cars, trees and rubble from houses strewn across streets after they were picked up by giant waves and carried inland.

"Almost all houses were destroyed, many are totally damaged. Only a few are left standing," said Major Rey Balido, a spokesman for the national disaster agency.

About a million people evacuated because they were living in the typhoon's path have been returning to find out what is left of their houses.

Children play among downed power lines

Many of those who died are thought to have left shelters in an urgent bid to rescue valuables from their homes, unaware of the giant waves flooding through coastal towns.

Hundreds of thousands are thought to have been left homeless.

British team of humanitarian experts is due to fly out to the Philippines to help the UK Government decide what aid to send.

Residents carry the body of a loved one

An appeal launched by the British Red Cross has already raised more than £100,000. US Secretary of State John Kerry said that America stood "ready to help".

Many of the most heavily damaged areas are still to be contacted because power and telephone lines are down, making the work of providing relief all the more difficult.

Captain John Andrews, a Philippines aviation chief, said he had spoken to colleagues by radio who had told him there were "100-plus dead lying on the streets" in Tacloban.

Soldiers walk outside of Tacloban's shattered airport terminal

Tacloban is the capital of Leyte, a large island of about two million people that suffered a direct hit from Haiyan on Friday morning when the storm was at its strongest.

Leyte Island, about 350 miles south of the capital Manila, is one of six islands that was in the path of the super typhoon's centre.

An increasing problem for the authorities now is looting, with many of the survivors desperate to get hold of supplies from the shattered shops.

Many children became separated from their parents and were left in tears

Thousands of police and army personnel are being flown into the affected areas to start relief operations and to uphold law and order.

At one point the super typhoon had been stronger than it was when it hit land, with winds gusting up to 235mph making it among the most powerful ever.

Meteorologists said that it had slowed to 100mph after passing over the Philippines but is still expected to be of typhoon force as it sweeps across the South China Sea toward Vietnam.

A map showing the path of the typhoon and affected islands

Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese have been moved away from coastal areas as authorities prepared for Haiyan to make landfall around 10am Sunday. Millions are thought to be living in its path.

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Cameron Backs Marines After 'Appalling' Murder

The Events That Led To A Murder

Updated: 3:16pm UK, Friday 08 November 2013

By Alistair Bunkall, Sky News Defence Correspondent

The events that led up to the murder of the injured insurgent in Helmand province were filmed on a helmet-camera belonging to Marine B.

The footage begins as the Marine's were nearing the end of a routine patrol. An Apache helicopter is heard flying nearby. It then fires 139 rounds at suspected insurgents.

The patrol was then asked to go and perform a tactical battlefield assessment - essentially look for injured or dead bodies.

They found one Afghan lying in the middle of a field. He was badly wounded in the chest and legs. An AK-47 was found with him.

At this point Marine B is some 40 yards from the wounded Afghan, having taken up a position to scan the field for the enemy. His camera records Marine A, a 39 year old Sergeant, and Marine C searching and assessing the Afghan.

Having established he had no other weapons or explosives on him, Marine A then instructs his colleagues to drag the man to the edge off the field. This, he claimed, was so that they weren't sat out in the open where they would be easy targets. He wanted to treat the insurgent in safety Marine A claimed. The prosecution disagreed, arguing that it was a deliberate attempt to find cover, out of the sight of the Apache and a long range surveillance camera in Camp Bastion, know as a PGSS, that might have been monitoring their activity.

Once in a clearing on the edge of the field, Marine A is heard on the video asking if anyone wants to give the Afghan first aid.

"Anybody want to do first aid on this idiot?" he asks.

"No" reply a number of Marines.

"I'll put one in his head, if you want," offers Marine C.

Laughter is heard before Marine A decides:

"No, not in his head, 'cause that'll be f****** obvious."

Marine A is also seen speaking on the radio, updating his base on the status of the Afghan.

He claims he was preparing a '9-liner', the process of calling in medical evacuation, so called because of the nine lines of checks that must be completed before a helicopter is allowed to deploy. A pink 9-liner form can be seen in his hand at one point.

In addition to the video, the events were recorded in a journal kept by Marine C. This was also used in evidence.

"Now we were in cover, I was ready and waiting to pop him with a 9mm, one in the heart should do it, but I waited out for the nod from Marine A, ... and although for one minute I thought we were actually going to treat and casivac him, Marine A squashed it and sent it up that he'd snuffed it while we treated him," he writes.

"So there I was, pistol drawn, waiting for Marine A to get off the net so I could pop this little w***** and be done with it; when Marine A came back over, and thinned me out, to take up arcs with the others." 

"As I walked off..., Marine A popped him one himself!  I felt mugged off, but job done; little f*** was dead at the end of the day."

The video clearly shows Marine A lean towards the Afghan who is lying supine on the ground. He levels his 9mm pistol at the man's chest and fire a shot at virtual point blank range.

Dr Nicholas Hunt, a Pathologist who gave expert witness at the trial, explained what happened next in his view:

"The hands. Particularly the right hand comes up to the area to which the weapon has been discharged – that's the first thing I noted," he told the court.

"The legs are also seen to move quite significantly. His head has started to move and his breathing becomes very obviously laboured, much more rapid than it has been before and much deeper breaths."

"He was still alive at the point he was shot. After that his breathing far less obvious – it becomes shallower and the gap between breaths increases."

Marine A's defence was that he believed the Afghan man was already dead when he shot him.

"I saw no signs of life from him, so yes I believed he'd passed,"he told Bulford Military Court.

When asked why he'd shot a man he believed was dead, Marine A replied:

" Stupid, lack of self-control. Poor judgement on my part."

"I was very surprised the amount he did move. I believed he was dead. I'd not seen any move,ent for a few minutes. He suddenly became very animated once I'd shot him."

On the video Marine A is heard admitting he'd just broken the Geneva Convention but insists he was referring to the fact he'd shot a dead body rather an injured man.

Under cross-examination, Marine A was asked what was done to check if the man had died.

"Did anyone check the man's pulse?"

"No," Marine A answered.

"Did anyone check the man's breathing?"

"Not that I saw."

"Did anyone check the man's eyes?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

Marine B argued that he was giving the insurgent first aid but  admitted it was cursory. Marine C said that he'd started walking away from the area and had his back turned when the shot was fired. He also claimed that his diary was a form of therapy and not always accurate.

The Marines were arrested in October last year. Under cross-examination during the trial Marine B admitted misleading the investigation.

"Was there a plan to cover it up?" he was asked by Dave Perry QC for the prosecution.

"We were protecting him, yes," Marine B replied. "In my opinion he had shot an alive, injured insurgent."

Mr Perry asked: "We saw on the video you suggesting a cover story to the patrol. What was the cover story to be?"

"It was just protecting Marine A. It meant to say it was a warning shot," was Marine B's answer.

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First 3D-Printed Metal Gun Fired Successfully

The first metal gun made on a 3D printer has been unveiled with a video showing the firearm being successfully tested.

The gun comprises of more than 30 3D-printed components, including stainless steel and other metal parts.

In a blog, Californian engineering company Solid Concepts, said: "It functions beautifully. Our resident gun expert has fired 50 successful rounds and hit a few bull's eyes at over 30 yards (metres)."

But the firm said making the classic 1911 pistol did not come cheap, requiring a lot more than a souped-up desktop printer.

The gun has a Federal Firearms License

Vice President Kent Firestone said: "This isn't about desktop printers ... the industrial printer we used costs more than my college tuition and I went to a private university."

Solid Concepts said its system is legal, claiming that they are the only 3D printing service provider with a Federal Firearms License.

The company said: "Now, if a qualifying customer needs a unique gun part in five days, we can deliver.

"We have the right materials, and the right engineers who know how to best programme and maintain these machines, to make 3D printing accurate, powerful and here to stay."

The gun is made of 30 stainless steel and metal parts

The use of 3D printing technology to manufacture weapons is not new but making them out of metal is.

Earlier this year, computer files allowing someone to make a single-shot Liberator gun were downloaded more than 100,000 times from Defense Distributed, an open-source website dedicated to 3D printable gun components.

The State Department, which oversees US weapons exports, ordered the blueprints to be taken off the Internet in May, but by that point, users had already reposted them widely on various file-sharing sites.

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Iran Nuclear Talks 'May End Without Deal'

Western diplomats are cautioning that a deal looks increasingly unlikely in nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers.

"Clearly, efforts are still going on," said one diplomat. 

The talks on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme are expected to continue in a week to 10 days. 

"There was a possibility, and perhaps it still exists, that if there are good intentions we can reach an agreed-upon text," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in Geneva.

"If we reach a result by the end of today, it's reached. If not, the process will continue in one week or 10 days."

Earlier today, British Foreign Minister William Hague said "progress" had been made at the talks. 

However, he cautioned that it was not clear whether a deal could be reached by the end of the day.

"There are difficult issues still to resolve – important issues to resolve," he said. 

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who cut short a Middle East tour to attend the talks in Geneva, Switzerland, had also struck a note of caution after a five-hour meeting drew to a close last night.

"There is not an agreement at this point," Mr Kerry told reporters. "There are still some very important issues on the table that are unresolved."

If some sort of agreement is reached, it would be a breakthrough after a decade of negotiations between Iran and the six world powers.

A potential deal could see Tehran freeze its nuclear efforts for as long as six months in exchange for some relief from the sanctions that have battered its economy.

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